Reversal
by AnimeAlexis
Summary: ON HIATUS. Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU, with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.
1. Bedridden

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 1**

Paige sniffled miserably.

"I hate colds!" she wailed to no one in particular. Her oldest sister grinned as she came into the room carrying a tray of lunch.

"Look on the bright side. At least you haven't sneezed yet." Piper said, as she set the tray on Paige's bed and settled herself beside it.

"Bite your togue. Dowing by luck, I'll sdeeze just to spite you ad orb to _adother_ alternate reality where I'b dead." Paige joked, slightly serious.

"Yeah, see that's just not funny when you know it'll probably happen." Piper smiled.

"Piper, why cad't I go to work?" Paige asked. "I hate beig cooped up id by bedroob. It sucks."

"Paige, can you hear yourself speaking?" Piper laughed. "I can only understand every fifth word! Besides, I'm sure you're raison d'etre can wait for another few days until you're well. What if you end up orbing every time you sneeze again?"

"Piper, dat happed _odce._ It wod't happed agaid. I cad't believe you're restraidig be to bed just because I have a cold!" Paige groaned.

"Well, take plenty of Vitamin C, get some rest and you'll be back to normal in no time." Piper consoled. "And look at it this way. At least Chris will give you a break from demon vanquishing for a few days."

"That's true." Paige agreed, looking slightly more cheerful. The room filled up with orb lights and the subject of their discussions appeared.

"Hey." Chris greeted.

"NO!" Paige and Piper said at the same time, glaring at him.

"Paige has a cold, and the rest of us need a break too!" Piper explained. "We will vanquish demons later."

"But.."

"No, Chris. Paige can't even pronounce her n's or m's. She won't be able to say a vanquishing spell." Piper told him.

"All right, fine. I know when I'm beaten. Don't let her sneeze." The witchlighter warned, then orbed out, probably to vanquish demons himself. Not that his unknown mother and aunt guessed this, of course.

"Ok, I've got to go check on Wyatt." Piper said, sighing in relief that they had escaped Chris' enthusiasm. "Chris was right. Don't sneeze." She continued, getting up and bringing a box of tissues from Paige's dresser over to her. She left the room, leaving the other witchlighter to her ponderings. One thing was prominent in her mind.

_'How does Chris know what happens when I sneeze?'

* * *

_

Piper smiled at her baby son, making sure he was fast asleep before leaving the room, baby monitor in hand. She made her way down to the kitchen, meaning to have an early lunch herself before she had to get to the club to set up. As she entered the room, the phone began ringing. She picked the handset out of its cradle and set the baby monitor down on the island.

"Hello, Halliwell residence. Oh, hey Phoebe… She's ok, a bit annoyed that she has to stay in bed…he is? Ok, we won't disturb your date…tell Elise the column's been emailed to her office if she calls looking for you, got it. All right. Have a good time. Bye!"

She replaced the phone and set about making herself lunch. When she was finished, she headed up to Paige's room to ask her to keep an eye on Wyatt. She knocked on the door and went in.

"Paige, I have to go to P3 to set up, will you… Paige?" The lunch tray she had brought up earlier sat abandoned on the empty bed.

_'Uh-oh.'_ Piper thought.

"Paige. Paige!" she called, going out of the room. She checked the bathroom, Wyatt's room and Phoebe's before heading up to the attic. The Book stood closed on its pedestal and there was nothing to suggest Paige had been up there at all.

"Chris!" Piper called out, beginning to worry. The young Whitelighter appeared beside her immediately, covered in grunge.

"What happened to you?" Piper asked, staring at him.

"Doesn't matter. What do you want?" Chris replied, brushing the question off.

"Paige is gone. I came up to ask her to mind Wyatt, and she had just vanished! She isn't anywhere in the house, and I need you to sense for her." Piper explained. Chris nodded, and closed his eyes, casting out his senses. After a few seconds he opened them again.

"I can't sense her. Did she sneeze?" he asked. Piper shrugged.

"Like I said, I wasn't there. Why? You don't think she could have sneezed out of this plane, do you?" she questioned anxiously.

"I'm not sure. Paige's colds are really awkward. Nearly every time, she ends up orbing herself to another dimension." He told her.

"How do you know that?" Piper asked, eyes narrowed. Chris shrugged.

"Magic history. She ended up, will end up, discovering nearly twenty other dimensions."

"But I thought you said she died when the Titans attacked." Piper threw at him. Chris shifted uncomfortably.

"She did, the first time around."

"Huh?" Piper asked eloquently.

"My memories are changing. Slightly, though. When you stopped the Titans, you stopped Paige dying at that moment in time. But don't ask anything more." He told Piper sharply. "You have no idea what sort of –"

"Future consequences could happen, blah, blah, I've heard it a thousand times before, Chris. And I still say you're worrying about it too much."

"Trust me." Chris answered darkly. "I'm not."

"Fine. Let's just concentrate on finding my sister, ok?" Piper instructed. Chris nodded.

"Why don't you try the blood summoning spell?" he suggested. "And maybe you should call Phoebe, too."

"No. She's on a date with Jason." Piper countered. "We can do this without her." She moved over to the Book, flicking through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

"Got it." She informed Chris.

"Great. Go."

"Go? This will just summon Paige to me." Piper said confusedly.

"No, it will take you to her. You have to reverse it so you can find her. If you just summon her without finding out where she is, we won't know where to look for her if she sneezes and goes missing again." Chris replied, looking at her like she was an idiot.

"What? Are you crazy? I can't just leave Wyatt alone! Plus, there's the club. I have a live band tonight, one of my managers is on maternity leave, and another is out on holidays! I can't just go tramping across dimensions looking for Paige!" she exclaimed.

"Piper, relax. I can look after Wyatt. And I can set up at the club, I've done it before." Chris offered, trying to calm his mother down.

"When have you ever looked after P3?" Piper asked cuttingly.

"I didn't say I'd looked after P3. There are other nightclubs, Piper." Chris said, trying to cover up his mistake.

"Oh. Yeah, but still…"

"No buts, Piper. You worry about Paige, and I'll worry about Wyatt and the club. Ok?"

"Fine. But I swear, Chris, if I come back and Wyatt is hurt, or, or you've burned down the club, or…"

"Thank you for your faith in me, Piper. Look, I know you don't trust me usually, but just trust me this time. Everything is going to be fine. Now just go. For all you know, Paige could be dead already!"

"Ok, ok, I'm going." Piper growled. She took a deep breath and recited the blood summoning spell. After a few moments wait, white lights surrounded her. They disappeared, taking Piper with them.

**AnimeAlexis:** What do you think? It's not "He's not your son", but I'm working on that too, I promise! Review please! And be nice!


	2. Where am I?

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 2**

Paige looked around the attic in confusion.

_'How did I get up here?'_ she wondered.

"Piper? Chris?" she called out, hoping one of them would hear her.

_'At least I'm still at home.'_ She thought. _'Though why I'm in the attic I don't know.'_

"Prue? Is that you?" Piper's voice called up, and Paige heard footsteps on the stairs.

_'Prue? Oh no, please tell me I'm not in the past.'_ She prayed. _'I don't want to mess with my future.'_ Piper appeared in the doorway, looking much the same as ever. She was looking down at the cell phone in her hand, and Paige was relieved to see it was the new one Phoebe had bought her last Christmas.

_'That rules out the past.'_ She thought, relaxing.

'_I must still be at home. In my time.'_ This theory lasted until Piper looked up. The sight of her baby sister seemed to startle her, as she choked on seeing her.

"Paige?" she squeaked, clearly awestruck.

"Last time I checked." Paige said, grinning uneasily. "Hey, wait. My cold is gone! How the hell did that happen?" she noticed.

"What are you doing here?" Piper asked, still staring at her almost hungrily.

"Um, I sneezed, I orbed, I ended up here. Why did you call me Prue?" she questioned. Piper's wondering smile vanished.

"Uh oh. Are you from the past?" she demanded of Paige.

"I don't think so. What's today's date?"

"November 15th, 2003." Piper said. Paige nodded.

"Yep, that's the date I know." Piper looked bewildered.

"Then why do you know what happened to you? And why is your hair red? And did you say _orbed_? You can't orb! Unless – oh my God, did they make you a Whitelighter?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Piper. First of all, my hair has been red since that potions accident a while back. Second, of course I can orb, but they didn't _make_ me a Whitelighter. I've been part Whitelighter since I was born! What do you mean, why don't I know what happened to me? What happened to you? And why do you look so surprised to see me? I only orbed from my bedroom!" Piper was backing away at this point, looking angry.

"Ok, demon, I don't know what game you're trying to play, but pretending to be my dead sister is not funny." She spat.

"Piper, what are you –?" Piper held up her hands to freeze Paige, and was surprised to see that not only did the 'demon' not freeze, she looked hurt that Piper had tried.

"Prue!" Piper yelled. Orb lights swirled and faded, leaving the one sister that Paige had yet to meet standing beside Piper.

"Are you ok, Piper? You sounded worried."

"Oh my God." Paige said disbelievingly. Prue turned to face her, and her eyes widened.

"Paige?" she exclaimed, at the same time as Paige's cry of "Prue?"

"Oh my God, I recognise you from all the pictures! It's so good to finally meet you!" they shrieked at the same time. Both of them blinked, surprised.

"What do you mean, you've seen pictures of me?" Paige demanded.

"Why are you corporeal? Aren't you a ghost?" Prue asked.

"A ghost?" Paige laughed. "No, of course not! _You're_ the ghost!"

"See, I think she's a demon." Piper explained to Prue.

"Well then, blow her up!" Prue replied.

"I don't think I can. She wouldn't freeze." Piper said. She held up her hands to try anyway, and Paige ducked immediately so the blast missed her.

"Piper! Did you just try to blow me up!" Paige asked incredulously from her position on the floor. She stood quickly and held up her hands as if offering a truce.

"Wait, I can prove I'm Paige Matthews!" she protested.

"Paige Matthews?" Prue asked. "Matthews is my last name!"

'_Ok Paige. Where have you orbed your way to this time?'_ she wondered. Before she could protest her own name, a swirl of white lights appeared.

"Paige!" Piper said, appearing within the lights. "Where did you go?"

"Piper!" Paige cried. She hugged her real older sister fiercely. "I have never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life. Will you tell your crazy counterpart here that I am NOT a demon?"

"My what?" Piper asked, bemused. She looked over to where Paige indicated.

"Oh." She realised. "Past?" she enquired of her little sister, eyes widening slightly as they took in Prue. Paige shook her head.

"I already checked. Today's the 15th here, just like at home. And they seem to think I'm dead, and Prue says her name is Matthews!" she pouted. Piper held up a hand.

"Ok, ok, I get the point. Are you sure they're not demons?" she asked, trying to freeze them quickly to make sure.

"Nope." Paige confirmed, as the two kept moving and breathing. The other Piper looked momentarily offended.

"Did you just try and _freeze_ me?" she demanded.

"Sure sounds like you, Piper." Paige admitted. Both Pipers turned identical glares on her.

"Yep, looks like you too." She commented. Suddenly, crying noises came from the baby monitor clipped onto alternate Piper's jeans.

"Sounds like Wyatt needs his mommy." Paige said, as the other Piper's hand went immediately to her hip. Both the other Piper and Prue looked confused at this.

"Wyatt? Who's Wyatt?" Prue asked.

"What!" Paige's Piper exploded. "You can't be serious! Now you're trying to tell me my son doesn't exist?"

"Hey, I'm gone, Prue's a Whitelighter." Paige pointed out, a hand on Piper's arm to stop her from doing anything rash. "What did you expect?" The crying noises continued over the monitor and Prue shooed alternate Piper out the attic door.

"Go on, honey. You go deal with Mel while I figure out who these people are."

"Mel…that sounds familiar." Piper mused. Paige gasped.

"Oh my God, Piper. Isn't Mel the name of the little girl you saw in the future?" Prue walked back towards them, leaving them no time to process Paige's realisation.

"I don't know who you people think you are, but I am not going to let you hurt my sisters or my niece. Understand?" Paige rolled her eyes.

"Problem, Prue. We don't _want_ to hurt your sisters. Piper and Phoebe are my sisters too. And speaking of Phoebe," she said, turning to her Piper "couldn't she have got off work to help when her sister sneezed her way into an alternate reality? And who's watching Wyatt?"

"Jason's back in town. He and Phoebe went out to lunch. I didn't want to disturb her. Chris is taking care of Wyatt and the club. Is your cold gone?" she asked confusedly.

"You _just_ noticed?" Paige asked. "And I thought you didn't trust Chris." She pointed out. Piper shrugged.

"I didn't want to bother Leo. And Wyatt will bring up his shield if there's danger. Chris is our Whitelighter, Paige. We have to give him a chance once in a while." Paige 'hmphed' and the two heard a pointed cough.

"Still here, you know." Prue informed them.

"Right." Piper remembered. "The thing about proving who we are. Paige, will you orb that vase in front of me please?" Piper pointed to the object, and Paige looked doubtfully at her.

"Great-great Aunt Pandora's one? Do you want to risk your powers not working on _that vase_?" Piper let out an irritated breath.

"If your powers work, then mine will too, I hope." She told Paige. "But if it makes you feel safer, use a couch pillow."

"It does, actually." Paige confirmed. "We've broken enough priceless family artefacts without breaking another one. Cushion!" she called, and the old cream cushion disappeared from the attic's couch, reappearing in the air in front of Piper, who immediately froze it. Prue looked astonished. Her eyes were wide as she flicked them back and forth between the sisters and the couch cushion. Stepping forward, she reached slowly to pull it out of the air.

"Ok." She breathed. "I believe you."

"Good. So let's go downstairs, I'll make some tea and we can talk this over like civilised people." Piper suggested.

"Like civilised _witches_." Paige amended, smiling. Prue nodded, and they headed for the attic door.

**AnimeAlexis:** So tell me what you think? Could it be better? Review and tell me! Oh, but just to warn you, I ignore flames. If it's constructive criticism, fine, but there's no point in reviewing just to bitch.


	3. Swapping Histories

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**AnimeAlexis:** Just to let you know, I'm labelling the Pipers, unless they're in different places. Piper1 is from the reality we know, Piper2 is from the reality where they are. Ok?

**Chapter 3**

A little while later, Piper2 had joined Prue, Paige and herself in the kitchen. She had brought her daughter down too, and was feeding her lunch. It was very disconcerting for Piper1 to watch. She handed out mugs of tea to her sisters before sitting down herself.

"Ok, so where do we start?" Paige asked.

"From the beginning." Both Pipers replied immediately. Prue scrunched up her nose.

"See, now that's creepy." She commented.

"Tell me about it." Paige agreed. "Ok, well, from the beginning. My name is Paige Matthews, and I'm a Charmed One. Phoebe and Piper, my half sisters, are the other two parts of the Power of Three."

"See, that's the first two things wrong." Piper2 put in, exchanging a glance with Prue. "Paige isn't our half sister."

"What!" Paige and Piper1 exclaimed together.

"She's my half sister." Prue said. "Along with Piper and Phoebe."

"What do you mean?" Piper1 questioned sharply. Paige gasped.

"Oh God. It's a reverse. In this reality, Prue can orb, so she must be half Whitelighter, half witch. She's our mom and Sam's daughter, not me!" she guessed. Prue nodded in the affirmative.

"Wait, wait. In your universe _Paige_ is Mom and Sam's child? But how is that possible? She's the youngest!" Piper2 pointed out. Piper1 shuffled uncomfortably.

"Well…she had an affair with her Whitelighter."

"An affair? Mom had an affair!" Piper2 cried.

"Well, it wasn't really an affair. Weren't Victor and her divorced by then?" Paige asked Piper1.

"Um, actually, yeah, I think so. So that didn't happen here, then?" she judged by her otherself's reaction.

"No." Prue affirmed, more calm than Piper2. "They had a fling about a year before Victor came into the picture. And they were never divorced here, either."

"Then why were you given up at birth? And why is your surname mine?" Paige asked.

"Because I'd guess my parents – my adoptive parents, that is – are the same as yours."

"Are – are they alive here?" Paige asked hesitantly. Prue shook her head mutely.

"They died in a car crash when Prue was younger." Piper2 explained. Paige hung her head, and Piper1 put her arm around her shoulder.

"They're dead in your reality too?" Prue checked. Paige nodded.

"I guess some things are just meant to happen." Piper1 consoled both her sisters. She looked to her counterpart.

"I suppose Mom's dead here too, then?" Prue and Piper2 looked shocked at this.

"No!" Prue exclaimed vehemently. "Her and Victor live out in the country. They take Melinda every so often when Piper decides the city is too horrible an environment for a baby."

"Can we see her?" Piper1 asked excitedly. Paige interrupted.

"What about Grams? If mom and Victor were around to help her raise you three – sorry, Piper, Phoebe and me, then her blood pressure must have been a way lower, right? She wouldn't have had…"

"The heart attack?" Piper2 finished Paige's sentence. "She did. But we still see her every so often. Being dead isn't that much of a hindrance to Grams." She smiled.

"Yeah, we see her as a ghost too." Paige agreed. "So she died just before you got your powers back?"

"That's right." Prue nodded. Piper1 looked confused.

"Wait a minute. Mom wanted to raise us as witches. If she was still alive, then why were your powers bound?" she asked.

"Dad wanted us to have as much of a normal life as possible. Mom eventually agreed to bind our powers and let us live without magic until we were old enough to understand it."

"So your world is in some ways a reverse to ours, and in some ways the same." Paige said. Piper1 gasped, realising something.

"Paige, if this _is_ a reverse, then just before they found Prue a few years ago… I'm guessing that that's when you found Prue?" she asked her counterpart. Piper2 nodded.

"We found Prue about two and a half years ago. Just after…"

"I died." Paige completed softly, realisation hitting her like a ton of bricks. "That's why you were so surprised to see me." She commented to Piper2, who nodded. "And why Prue said she'd seen me in pictures. But I don't understand. The last time I sneezed my way into an alternate reality, I took the place of that Paige. But I have my own powers here."

"Huh?" both Prue and Piper2 looked confusedly at her. Piper1 looked thoughtful.

"Well, I think that that was an alternate reality, but this is a parallel dimension." Now Paige looked confused.

"How do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, the last time, the reality was created by Cole changing a specific event. Us finding you. But this is a completely evolved world, alongside ours."

"Oh. I think I get it. That one wasn't really real, but this one is. And this Prue and Piper are real, and so are we, so we all have our own powers." Paige said. Piper1 nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Prue asked.

"Long story." Paige grinned.

"So that incident never happened here." Piper1 noted. "There's one thing I'm confused about, though. Why do I – you, have a daughter?" she asked her counterpart.

"You don't have Melinda?" Piper2 asked incredulously. She looked in horror from Piper1 to her baby. Piper1 shook her head.

"I thought I was going to. About five years ago, Prue, Phoebe and myself went to the future. I saw a daughter called Melinda there. But we also saw Phoebe burned at the stake, and Prue alive."

"I died in your world?" Prue asked. Paige smiled.

"Now you see how I feel. When I died here, you died in our world. Killed by a demon named Shax."

"That's not who killed Paige." Piper2 interjected. "She was killed by a demon named Belthazor."

"Cole?" Piper1 and Paige exclaimed together.

"Um, I think his human name was Cole, yeah." Piper2 said. "Cole…"

"Turner." Paige finished dully. "I _knew_ there was a reason I didn't like him!" she growled.

"I don't understand. Didn't Phoebe and Cole fall in love here?" Piper1 asked. Prue shook her head.

"Of course not! He's a demon!"

"Half demon, actually, Prue." Paige corrected her. "And that didn't stop Phoebe in our world."

"But back to my point, people." Piper1 changed the topic back. "I saw Melinda when we went to the future." She informed her otherself.

"But then Wyatt came along." Paige finished.

"Wyatt. I know that name." Piper2 mused. She took a sharp breath. "Wyatt Matthew? Oh my God."

"Yeah. He's Wyatt Matthew." Piper1 said. "Why?"

"Phoebe, Paige and I went to the future too." Piper2 replied. "Soon after we became witches. I saw two of my children there. My two sons. It was a shock, I can tell you. Girls for two hundred years and I find out that my future holds sons? Grams was horrified. I think she was actually quite relieved when Melinda Paige came along."

"Opposite way for Piper." Paige pointed out. "She saw a girl, and had a boy. Do you think you somehow tapped into our future?"

"And you tapped into ours?" Prue frowned. "It's possible. They saw Paige alive, and you saw me."

"It makes sense." Paige agreed. "You named your daughter after me?" she asked Piper2, who nodded.

"I think something's wrong with her, err, me." She said, inclining her head towards Piper1. Prue and Paige looked at her.

"Piper?" Paige asked, shaking her shoulder lightly.

"I'm going to have another child?" Piper1 asked hoarsely. "With who?"

"Leo, of course." Piper2 answered lightly. "You know, your husband?" Piper1 held up her ringless left hand.

"Piper and Leo are divorced." Paige explained to the other two.

"We're WHAT!" Piper2 shrieked. "How are you divorced?" she demanded.

"He left to become an Elder." Piper1 said numbly.

'_Another son? And with LEO? I can't believe it.'_ She thought.

"Who is he?" she asked her counterpart. "What's he like?"

"Well, he was 12 when I saw him." Piper2 remembered. "Brown hair, Leo's green eyes. Neurotic, and way too sarcastic for a kid. We were only there for a little while, so I didn't really get to know him. I'm just glad that my sons aren't going to cease to exist."

"But his name?" Piper1 asked impatiently. "What was he called?"

**AnimeAlexis:** And there I'll leave it. It isn't exactly a cliffhanger, because everyone knows who she's going to say! And ok, I wasn't going to update so quickly, but your reviews have been lovely, so encouraging, I wanted to update right away! Thank you:-) Review please!


	4. Futureboy is my Nephew?

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 4**

"His name?" Piper2 repeated. "I thought I said. Chris. Christopher Perry Halliwell." Paige and Piper1 stared at her, Piper1 letting out a strangled noise. Paige absently rubbed her back, trying to calm her down after the shock. The two sisters looked at each other in disbelief.

"No. He can't be. It can't be Chris." Piper mumbled. "He's Chris, for God's sakes." She declared, voicing both sisters' thoughts.

"Chris Perry? Futureboy? My nephew is our WHITELIGHTER!" Paige demanded.

"He fits the bill, though, Paige. Neurotic, sarcastic…" Piper1 trailed off.

"Yeah, and he looks like you too, Piper. How didn't we see it? He was so familiar with everything, and everyone." Paige mused.

"What?" Prue asked confusedly. As Paige explained, Piper1 drifted off into her own thoughts.

"Chris is my son?" she muttered under her breath.

_'So that's why he knows us so well. He's my son. I'm going to be a mom again. That's why he came back to save Wyatt. He's trying to keep his brother safe, and alive. He's my SON!'_

"I'm going to kill him." She growled.

"What?" Paige asked.

"You heard me! As soon as he is born, he is grounded for keeping secrets from his mother! For life! I'll ban him from everything he likes, and he'll never see another demon hunt again!" Piper1 ranted.

"Honey, don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Paige pointed out softly.

"NO! Not at all! He should have told me! I didn't trust him, I wouldn't help him, and everything he was doing was for us! For Wyatt! He's an idiot, and he could have been killed!" she burst into tears. Piper2 looked awkward.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything." She mumbled.

"No, it's good for us to know. He won't tell us anything about the future. But he should have told us this." Paige said to the other world versions of her sisters.

"We were so mean to him, Paige. And all he was doing was protecting Wyatt from evil." Piper1 sobbed. "I'm such a horrible mom!"

"No, Piper, you're not. You can't think that!" Paige protested.

"But I didn't even recognise him. Aren't I supposed to realise these things?" she demanded.

"Honey, he's not even born yet. There was no way you could have known." Paige pointed out logically. "You would never have guessed you would even _have_ anotherson."

"Especially not with Leo." Piper1 said. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God, Paige. Leo and I aren't together anymore. And Chris is what, 22? And from around twenty years in the future, he said. That means…"

"That he'll have to be conceived sometime soon. And he split you and Leo up. Forget it, Piper, when we get back I'm killing him myself. How could he be so _stupid_?" Paige asked in horror. Piper1 shook her head mutely.

"Speaking of you getting back," Prue interrupted. "We have to figure out a way to do that. This has been fun and all, but I've got to be at the office at 3 for a photo shoot. And Piper –"

"Has a club to run, yeah, we know." Paige said. "Speaking of the club, aren't half of your managers out?"

"Chris is looking after it." Piper1 said absently.

"Along with Wyatt?" Paige asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Piper2 told them.

"Why?" Paige asked, turning to her sister's counterpart.

"Well, from what we saw of him in the future, the boy can handle five things at once. He can vanquish demons with his eyes closed." Piper2 explained proudly. Even if she was never going to meet the kid, he was still her son.

A heavy load that she didn't even know she had been carrying was lifted from her shoulders. When Melinda was born, she had thought of her two boys often, worrying that it was something she had done to cause them not to exist. When the sisters from the other world had appeared, bringing news of her sons with them, she had felt huge relief. Piper1 had often felt the same way about Melinda, wondering if there was somewhere out there where she was still alive. It felt fantastic for both of them to realise they hadn't inadvertently killed their children. They just saw the wrong futures.

"It sounds like your trip to the future was a lot longer and more informative than ours was." Piper1 commented. Her otherself grinned.

"We got stuck." She admitted. "Couldn't figure out what we were there to see. In the end, our children had to sort us out." She laughed. Paige's face lit up.

"Our children? Did you say _our_ children? I have kids too?"

"Whoa, hold up there." Prue scolded. "I don't think knowing about the future can be that good. Look at how your Piper reacted when she found out about Chris! I think we should focus on getting you home before we screw either one of our futures up. And yes, Paige." She looked sharply at her baby half sister. "That does mean that we don't want to know about our future."

"But Prue!" both Pipers whined.

"No, actually, I think she's right. And if she's right, Chris probably had a reason for not telling us as well." Paige put in.

"Ok, so let's go home. So I can ground him for life." Piper1 sighed. "After I make him eat something." She added thoughtfully. Even baby Melinda gave her a weird look at this.

"What?" she defended herself. "The boy is too skinny. I've been thinking that for weeks. And now I have the authority to force feed him so he doesn't look so undernourished!" she said happily. Paige pulled a face, then thought of something.

"Ooh, you also now have the authority to get him to slow down and stop sending us on demon hunts twenty four seven!" she cheered. Thinking of something else, she frowned. "Am I going to have my cold again when we get back home?" Piper1 shrugged.

"What cold?" Piper2 enquired.

"The one that started this all." Paige explained. "When I sneeze, I tend to orb my way into other dimensions. Like this one!"

"Oh." Prue said. "That explains a lot. So how do we get you home?"

"Maybe if you sneezed again?" Piper1 suggested. Paige shook her head.

"I tried that the last time. It didn't work."

"Yeah, but you didn't have your powers then." Piper1 argued. "This time you do. Completely different situation." Paige opened her mouth to argue, waited a few seconds, then closed it again when she realised she _had_ no argument.

"Hah! I win!" Piper1 congratulated herself. Piper2 and Prue snickered, while Paige stuck out her tongue at her older sister.

"Fine. Let's try it." She agreed, standing.

"Only one problem. You don't have a cold anymore." Prue pointed out, standing alongside her. Both Pipers also rose to their feet, frowning.

"Oh! I know!" Piper1 exclaimed triumphantly. She moved over to the cupboards, throwing them open. She rummaged around for a while, then turned back to the other confused Charmed Ones.

"Where's the pepper?" she asked. Piper2's face lit up.

"That's brilliant! I can't believe I didn't think of it!" she cried. "Top shelf, to the left." She informed Piper1.

"You did." Piper1 smirked, reaching for the seasoning. "Just a different you."

"Will someone explain what's going on here?" Prue asked bemusedly.

"I can't stand pepper." Paige explained. "It _always_ makes me sneeze."

"Clever." Prue commented. Piper1 brought the pepper around the island.

"Thanks." She said, inclining her head towards her elder sister. She handed the pepper to her counterpart.

"One thing before we go." Piper1 begged. "Could I hold Melinda, just for a second?" Piper2 nodded her assent, so Piper1, beaming, picked the girl out of her highchair.

"Hiya baby!" she cooed at her once-daughter. "She's gorgeous." She told her counterpart. Sighing, she handed the baby over to Prue.

"It was good to see her again." She said. "All the same, I have my own baby boy at home that I'm sure is missing his mommy."

"Say hello to them for me?" Piper2 pleaded. Piper1 nodded.

"Of course." Paige turned to Prue.

"Well, like I said earlier, it was nice to finally meet you, sis."

"Same here." Prue agreed, hugging her briefly. Piper2 and Paige, and Prue and Piper1 then hugged each other goodbye.

"Maybe next time you can come visit us?" Paige suggested.

"We'll see." Piper2 said. She shook a handful of pepper into her hands and threw it at Paige, who clutched at Piper1's arm hurriedly.

"Bye!" Piper1 cried, as Paige scrunched up her nose and gave an almighty sneeze.

**AnimeAlexis:** Review and tell me what you think again please! You guys are awesome!


	5. Confrontation

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 5**

They reappeared in the Manor's attic.

"Are we hobe?" Paige asked stuffily. "Oh do! By cold's back!" she realised. Piper laughed.

"I think we're home. Chris!" she called loudly. When no response came she tried again, louder.

"Christopher!"

"Baybe he cad't hear you." Paige suggested.

"He can hear me, he's just ignoring me." Piper said confidently. "Christopher Perry Halliwell, get your ass home this instant!" she yelled.

"Ow, Piper. I still hab ears, you dow." Paige muttered.

"Shush you." Piper hushed her as their Whitelighter orbed in, Wyatt in his arms.

"Piper, couldn't this have waited like five minutes? I was trying to get Wyatt to sleep and do inventory. Plus, the floor needed sweeping, and I was working on a vanquishing potion."

"Wow. Oder Piper was right about the multitasking. We're fide, Chris. How are you today?" Paige replied sarcastically. Piper took Wyatt into her arms, a smile lighting up her face.

"You have some explaining to do, young man." Piper scolded her younger son, who at the moment didn't know that she knew that he _was_ her younger son.

"What have I done now?" he asked defensively, running his mind back over the conversation. She called him, he picked up Wyatt, she called again, he went into the back room, away from the band, she called a third time, he orbed.

_'Uh oh. What exactly did she call me?'_ He was busy, so it hadn't registered at the time.

"Piper, did you call me Halliwell? I know I'm starting to be part of the family, but I don't feel like changing my name just yet." He grinned weakly.

_'There's no possible way she could know.'_ He reassured himself. _'It must have been a mistake.'_

"See, I'd orb, cos she's godda groud you dow." Paige commented.

"Paige, go back to bed. You still have a cold, and I'd like to have a word with my son." Piper requested, handing Wyatt over to her.

"Son? Piper, I'm touched, really, but I already have a mother." Chris covered desperately, as his aunt orbed out of the attic grudgingly.

"I know." She said softly. "She's standing right in front of you."

"Where did you go, Crazy land? Why don't you just go downstairs and have a cup of tea. I have to get back to the club." He said, going to orb out.

"Stay right where you are, Chris. P3 can wait." Piper instructed a hard look in her eyes.

"Don't do this." He pleaded softly. "You're not supposed to know."

"What aren't I supposed to know, Chris? That I have another son? Moreover, that he came back from the future for reasons he won't tell us anything about, and doesn't bother to let me know who he is?"

"It's too dangerous; it could mess with the whole future." Chris warned.

"I thought you came back to change the future!" Piper commented irritatedly.

"Yeah, but…"

"But what, Chris?"

"I'd really like to be born." He said sheepishly. Piper snorted.

"Yeah, about that. You do realise that you split Leo and myself up, don't you?" Chris' eyes widened.

"Oops. I've been so focused on saving Wyatt that I completely forgot about… that. Well, I don't have to worry for a while."

"Why?" Piper asked curiously. "When's your birthday?"

"December 27th, 2004. It's only November 2003now." He explained. Piper sighed.

"Why did you do it, Chris? You could have erased your entire existence!"

"I still might have to. Wyatt staying – alive is more important." He argued.

"Alive?" Piper asked curiously. "You hesitated. Alive isn't what you were going to say."

"Yes it was." Chris replied. "Now like I said, I've got a few things on the go in P3. Can I get back there please?"

"Sure." Piper agreed. Chris sighed imperceptibly in relief. "I'll go with you."

"What? Why?"

"Chris, who owns the club?"

"You, but…"

"And who is the mother here?"

"Well, you, but…"

"No buts." Piper smiled. "I'm going with you. I want some answers, and you're not leaving my sight until you give me them." She stepped forward and drew her newfound son into a hug.

"Don't do something as stupid as this again, ok?" she sighed.

"I had to." Chris said, his voice muffled. Instead of fighting the hug, he had buried his head in Piper's neck. "Wyatt had to be saved. I missed you so much, mom." He admitted, straightening. She smiled at the address.

_'Mom. I'm going to be a mom again.'_

"Ok, let's go sort out my club." She said. Chris nodded, and they orbed out together.

**AnimeAlexis:** Short, I know, but I'm not sure whether to end it there or add on another chapter. I could tell Piper about Wyatt, put Paige into another reality, tell Phoebe and Leo about who Chris really is… Review and let me know what you'd like, please!


	6. Here we go again

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 6**

Piper and Chris rematerialised in the attic shortly after they had left it.

"I can't believe we forgot Wyatt." Chris said, summoning his older/younger brother with a wave of his hand. Wyatt materialised in his arms, looking amused. Piper raised her eyebrows at her newly discovered son from the future.

"What?" Chris asked at her expression. She held up a hand.

"Three two, one…" she muttered.

"Wyatt!" Paige's voice yelled from downstairs.

"Whoops." Chris winced. He headed for the attic door.

"It's all right, Aunt Paige, I have him! Stay in bed!" he called down the stairs. "It's not my fault I forgot she was here." He commented at his mother.

"I still say that Paige could have looked after him. He is her nephew." Piper pointed out.

"That's not the point, Piper!" Chris said exasperatedly. "Wyatt –"

"Mom." Piper corrected calmly.

"Huh?" Chris asked, his mind on a different track.

"Mom. I'm your mother, and will be addressed as such."

" 'And will be addressed as such'? Who talks like that, Piper?" he retorted.

"You do. Leo does. The Elders do, Sam does too. Hell, even Paige does sometimes when she's lecturing about something or other. It must be a Whitelighter thing." She mused. Chris stared at her.

"Ok. Maybe Leo and Sam and the Elders talk like that, but Aunt Paige doesn't. And I definitely don't." he informed her.

"You do. But back to my point. You can't just go calling me Piper, now that I know you're my son." She argued.

"Why not?" Chris asked calmly.

"Because I'm your mother. And if you don't I'll, umm, I'll ground you!" she exclaimed on a stroke of inspiration. Chris' mouth hung open.

"You can't ground me, I'm your Whitelighter!" he protested heatedly. "Plus, I'm 22!"

"Chris, it's one word. Only three letters. M-o-m. You call Paige your aunt! Why can't you call me mom?" The hurt in her eyes made Chris groan aloud.

"Don't play the guilt card, Piper, please. It's too hard."

"What's too hard? What have I done wrong? What do you hate me for, Chris?" she asked.

"Oh, God. She's doing the guilting thing. I _hate _guilting thing. Fine. Mom, ok? I'll call you mom. And I don't hate you." He added as an afterthought. Piper frowned.

"Then why wouldn't you call me mom?" she asked, puzzled and hurt. Chris sighed.

"This isn't fair, you know." He told her quietly. "You're not the only one hurt here."

"Why are you hurt?" she asked.

"Because you made me call you mom." He reminded her. Piper flinched.

"Ok. I guess you don't have to, then." She mumbled. "I'll take Wyatt and you can head back…" Chris had a furious argument with himself. Eventually, as Piper headed out the attic door, holding Wyatt in her arms, he blurted out,

"You're dead." She whirled around, breath catching.

"What?"

"In my future. I can't call you mom. I won't allow myself to get that close to you. Because if I do, if I acknowledge that you're her, it'll mean acknowledging that you're gonna die too. And I can't handle that. As your Whitelighter it would be bad enough if I knew you were going to die and couldn't do anything about it. But as your son -" his voice caught, and he cleared his throat before forcing himself to speak again.

"As your son, I can't go through the pain of losing you again. I won't." he finished determinedly. Piper had been making her way over to him as he spoke, and now she pulled him into a hug, tears pooling in her eyes. It wasn't the fact that she died young that was getting to her. It was the fact that her son, her _baby_, was still hurting from it.

"Oh, Chris." She whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too." He responded in kind. "It was my fault, I couldn't heal you, and I didn't wake Wy on time, and dad never listens…"

"It's ok." She shushed his babbling. "We'll fix it, peanut." Chris pulled back, looking confused.

"How did you know that?" he demanded.

"Know what?" Piper asked, unaware that she had said something wrong.

"The nickname. Your nickname for me. How did you know it?" he asked again. Piper shrugged.

"Chris, sweetie, who do you think made it up?"

"Pi – mom, you won't have me for another year and a half. How did you know that that was my childhood nickname?" he insisted. She shrugged again and reached out to pinch his cheek the way she was sure Phoebe would once she figured out who he was.

"You just seem like a peanut, that's all. A very handsome peanut." she gushed. Chris rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's easily known you grew up with Aunt Phoebe." He deadpanned. Piper laughed.

"Is she that bad? In the future, I mean."

"Yeah. She is. Anyway, me and Wyatt here really need to get back to P3, so if I could have him back?"

"Like I said, Paige can take care of him." Piper said again. "She is his aunt. She's been looking after him since he was born." Chris rolled his eyes again.

"That's not the point."

"And what is?" Piper questioned.

"Mom, who did I leave P3 with?" Chris asked, practically spelling it out for his mother. She looked from him to the baby settled on her hip. Realisation hit.

"Oh." She handed Wyatt over to his brother. "Does that mean I can't come with you?" she pouted. Chris, in what seemed to be becoming his habit of the day, rolled his eyes again. Concentrating, he orbed his mother outside the club door before orbing into the back room with Wyatt. He set his brother down in the playpen he had set up earlier, checked on the potion he had brewing on a table, and headed out the door, just as a confused looking Piper let herself into the club.

"Oh, hi, Piper." He said loudly, making his way over to the stairs. "Guys, this is Piper Halliwell, the owner of the club." He called to the band working on the stage. They greeted her casually, not seeming to notice the fact that she hadn't a clue what was going on. She gave the band a small smile as she hissed at her son

"What am I doing here? And where's your brother?"

"Relax, mom." Chris replied under his breath. "Wyatt's in the back room, and I orbed you outside. I couldn't very well orb you into the back room with me, could I? People would wonder."

"Ok, first of all eew." Piper said. "Second, good thinking, thanks. So what do I need to do here?"

* * *

Paige lay once again confined to bed. She tried reading a book, but couldn't get into it when she had to sniff every few minutes. She didn't even want to _consider_ touching her art supplies while she was ill. And after her trip to another dimension earlier, she felt energised, in no mood to sleep. She sighed, slumped in the bed.

'_This isn't fair! Why couldn't Piper or Phoebe have been sick? At least they don't have to worry about sneezing.' _She moaned to herself as she buried her face in a tissue. She didn't want to go dimension hopping the whole time she was sick.

'_Maybe Piper was right.'_ She mused. _'Maybe I should go take some Vitamin C. I think we might have some tablets in the kitchen. And that's one good thing about always having potion ingredients on hand. I can always make myself a pick-me-up drink. Not magical, though. Lord only knows how that might react with my cold. Fate has a very cruel sense of humour, and it would be just typical if I had to deal with personal gain consequences as well as being sick.'_ She got out of bed to get some Vitamin C, and drink it with a glass of orange juice, just to give herself every chance. She slipped her feet into her slippers, and headed downstairs. After getting herself the orange and tablets, she decided to have a quick shower to freshen up.

'_I normally do feel better after a hot shower, and it can't hurt.'_ She mused as she made her way up the stairs. As she stood under the piping hot water, she wrinkled her nose.

'_Uh oh.'_ She thought, pinching her ticklish nose quickly._ 'I can't sneeze now! I'm in the shower, for God's sakes!'_ She hurriedly shut of the water and stepped out, wrapping herself in a towel. She felt the itchiness in her nose fade, and sighed in relief. Taking her hand away from her nose, she fastened the towel tightly around herself and reached for the tracksuit she had slept in.

"Achoo!" she sneezed loudly. She had only one thought in her mind as she felt orbs envelop her.

'_Crap.'_

**AnimeAlexis:** Thanks, everyone, for the brilliant reviews for the last chap! The people who gave me ideas for the story (you know who you are), thanks to you especially! It really helped! Review please, and tell me where you think Paige should end up!


	7. Lottie

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 7**

Wyatt's insistent crying in the back room told Piper and Chris, both hard at work, that he was awake and cranky. Really, Chris couldn't blame him. The band Piper had hired was _not_ one of her better choices. Way too pop cliché for his tastes, though he supposed the strong beats were good to dance to.

"Take him home, Piper." He told his mother. As expected, she frowned at the address, but Chris only jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the barperson checking on the cash in the register behind them. As her face cleared in realisation, she answered.

"You can take him, Chris. Go check on Paige, but keep Wyatt away from her." She frowned thoughtfully. "Actually, keep yourself away from her as well. I don't need either of you sneezing and orbing as well."

"You don't need to worry." Chris grinned. "Wyatt hardly ever gets sick, and I've never had the sneezing and orbing problem. That would be –" he cut himself off quickly. He sighed at her ruefully.

"How come I always seem to reveal more information about the future around you than anyone else?"

"Because I'm your mother and you can't keep secrets from me." Piper said smugly. Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Does the fact that you only found out that you're my mother today, and _not_ from me even though I've been here for months, mean anything to you?"

"Nope." Piper said cheerfully. She headed towards the source of the crying, picking up her older son and shushing him.

"Here you go!" she told Chris, depositing Wyatt in his arms. Chris absently jogged him up and down, making popping sounds, as Piper dug her keys out of her handbag and handed them over to her other son.

"How do you know about the popcorn machine?" she asked curiously.

"Lottie loves it." He said absent-mindedly, trying to get a grip on Wyatt as he squirmed and giggled.

"Lottie? Who's Lottie?" Piper asked excitedly. Chris realised what he had said and cursed himself.

"This is not fair, mom. You can't just keep trying to pry information out of me! It's not cool!" he protested.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you've suddenly started to leak information about the future." Piper smirked. "Now tell me who Lottie is." Chris sighed.

"If I tell you, will you leave me alone about the future information?"

"No." Piper said truthfully.

"Then why should I tell you? You could decide to do something to change my future. You could erase Lottie, if you know about her."

"Don't be ridiculous, Chris. Why would I erase a child?"

"Don't yell, ok?" Chris pleaded. "Lottieisyourgranddaughter." He blurted out, hoping if he blurred the words together Piper might not understand. No such luck.

"What!" she exlaimed, deciphering quickly. "You have a _daughter_!"

"No! No, Lottie's not mine." Chris informed her. "She's Wyatt's."

"How old is she?" Piper demanded, eyes shining. "What's she like?"

"Very cute." Chris admitted. "My goddaughter. Blonde hair, brown eyes, like you."

"What about a P name?" Piper asked quizzically. "And how old is she?" she repeated.

"She's Charlotte Piper Halliwell. Charlotte after Melinda Warren's mother." He frowned when he remembered Charlotte's mother's fate. Wyatt's girlfriend had run off, leaving him with the newborn baby. Wyatt had been furious. After bringing Charlotte to a 15 year oldChris, who couldn't refuse a baby, even if it was the Source of all Evil's, Wyatt had hunted his girlfriend Melissa down and killed her in cold blood. They had both been 17 at the time.

"How old is she, Chris?" Piper asked again, suspecting there was something he wasn't telling her.

"She's seven." He said finally. Piper quickly worked out how old Wyatt must have been when she was born.

"17!" she thundered. Chris hissed at her to be quiet, but he ignored her. "He was 17!"

"Mom, keep your voice down!" he said, quickly ushering her up the stairs and out the door of the club. Once outside, she ripped into him.

"My son got a girl pregnant when he was 17 years old!" she yelled.

"It was an accident, and it was only the one time, mom." Chris beseeched her. "Don't think he made a habit of it."

_'No, he just went around killing people instead.'_ Chris thought wryly._ 'Like that's so much better.'_

"It doesn't matter! I'm going to kill him!" she shouted angrily. Chris unconsciously shielded his currently younger brother from their mother's wrath.

"Ok, me and Wyatt are going to go now." He said quickly, before orbing home, leaving a raging Piper standing outside her club.

_'Well that went well.'_ He thought to himself. He made a mental note to make sure that Piper didn't do anything to stop Charlotte being conceived. Even if Wyatt had been a little young to have children, Charlotte was gorgeous, and he wouldn't let his mother stop her from coming to be. In some distant corner of his mind, he knew Piper wouldn't do anything rash. But wow, she had been so angry…

"Aunt Paige?" he called upstairs, orbing up and heading for Wyatt's room. He put his brother into his crib, knowing the only reason he had woken up in the first place was because of the loud band.

"Aunt Paige?" he called again, aiming for her room as he left the one his brother shared with their mother. He wanted to make sure she was still in the house. Not hearing an answer, though, his heart sank.

_'Oh no. She's gone again.' _He thought. His idea was confirmed as he opened the door to her empty room. He went into the bathroom just in case. He found that empty as well. His eyes fell on her tracksuit lying on the floor.

"Crap." He swore out loud. "This is not good."

"Hello?" a voice called from downstairs, and his hopes rose. Maybe she wasn't gone after all?

"Piper? Paige? Chris?" the voice called again. "I'm home!" Chris quickly ran to the stairs and leaned over the banister.

_'Phoebe.'_ He sighed to himself.

"Phoebe, I need you to mind Wyatt, ok?" he said quickly, racing down the stairs and handing her the baby monitor.

"Oh, ok, hello." Phoebe said, looking surprised as the monitor was thrust into her hands. "Why am I minding Wyatt?" she asked, as he sprinted up the stairs. He leaned back over the banister to tell her.

"I need to go find Paige. She sneezed."

"Oh." Phoebe said, as if that explained everything. After a millisecond, she realised it didn't. "What?" she asked, following him up the stairs.

"Chris, come back here!" she cried, following towards the attic as her Whitelighter darted up the stairs in front of her.

"Can't Phoebe, sorry!" his voice floated back. She huffed, and checked on Wyatt quickly before going up to the attic herself. She saw Chris flicking through the Book of Shadows, looking for the page his mother had been on earlier. He found it and looked at it intently, before nodding to himself and moving towards the potions ingredients.

"Chris, where are you going?" she asked him.

"I told you, to find Paige. She sneezed." He muttered. "Rosemary, yarrow root, cypress…" he tossed ingredients into a cauldron as he talked about them.

"And where is Paige gone?" Phoebe asked patiently.

"Umm, you remember when Cole created an alternate universe, and Paige sneezed her way into it?" Chris responded, still making the potion.

"Yes." Phoebe responded warily.

"Yeah, she's done it again. This is the second time today, in fact." He checked the Book to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"Chris, what do you mean?" Phoebe asked exasperatedly, clearly not following.

"I don't have time. Ask Piper, she'll tell you."

"Where is Piper?"

"At the club, setting up for the evening." He answered, looking around for something.

"Uh-huh. And why isn't she going to get Paige?"

"Because she doesn't know Paige is missing." Chris said, lifting up the cauldron, then replacing it.

"And why haven't you told her that Paige is missing?" Phoebe quizzed.

"Because she's mad at me." Chris replied.

"Understandable. I'm mad at you right now. You're being annoying!"

"That's because I'm in a hurry. Have you seen an athame?" he enquired. Phoebe went to look in the weapons trunk as she asked,

"So why don't I go find Paige?"

"Because I don't want Piper to see me for a while."

"Why?" she asked, handing the athame over.

"Thanks. Weren't you listening? Mom's kinda mad at me at the moment."

"Right. And you haven't said why. … Wait. Did you just say 'mom'?" Chris groaned.

"Why is this happening to me? Today is not a good day." He said, as Phoebe looked at him, gobsmacked.

"Ask Piper." He instructed her. "She has all the answers." Phoebe recovered from her shock long enough to glare at him.

"Hey, that's my tagline!" she griped.

"Powers of the witches rise,

Course unseen across the skies,

Come to me, I call you near,

Come to me and settle here."

He pricked his finger quickly with the athame and squeezed out a few drops of blood.

"Blood to blood, I wish to be,

Blood to blood, bring me to thee."

Chris vanished in a swirl of gold lights, the same way Piper had earlier during the day.

**AnimeAlexis:** I am on a roll with this story! How do you like it? Is it coming along ok? If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them! Review please!


	8. Phoebe Gets Angry

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**AnimeAlexis:** This chapter is up especially for Mediatorsk, who's stuck at home with a cold, just like Paige! Hope you like!

**Chapter 8**

"Dammit!" Paige swore out loud. She had reappeared in the attic, still wrapped in her towel. The fact that she was in the attic combined with the fact that once again her cold was gone seemed to indicate that she was in another dimension. Again. She sighed.

_'This is the second time today.'_ She moaned to herself. She shivered as she crossed the attic to the door.

'_I really need some clothes.' _She thought, twisting the doorknob. To her surprise, it was locked.

"Since when do we lock the attic door?" she questioned everyone in the room, which was absolutely nobody. Thinking it might just be jammed, she jiggled it around a bit, but no luck. Frustrated, she slammed her hand into the door.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, flinching back. She stepped backwards, away from the door. A thought occurred to her and she rolled her eyes.

"Paige, sometimes you can be such an idiot." She berated herself. She sighed and prayed her powers were working ok. She wasn't having much luck with orbing today, but hopefully…

"Ok, here goes nothing." She thought, closing her eyes and concentrating on her bedroom. She felt the familiar feeling of orbs pulling at her and dematerialised, but not before hearing a loud exclamation. Quickly, she orbed back into the attic, hoping that Piper had figured out she was gone again.

"Piper?" she asked hopefully, reappearing in the room. She looked around and caught sight of the person who had called her. The woman was standing in the doorway, looking older than Paige knew she should be, and impossibly alive. Paige's jaw dropped.

'_This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.'_ She thought.

"Umm, hi?" was the only thing to come out of Paige's mouth as she stared at someone she definitely hadn't expected to see.

* * *

"Piper Halliwell, get your ass home right now!" Phoebe's voice yelled down the phone at her older sister.

"I'm a little busy right now, Pheebs." Piper replied, sorting through the till to make sure she had enough money in it for the evening. "What's wrong? Is it to do with the demonstrations?" she asked, lowering her voice.

"Yes and no. Apparently Paige has sneezed her way into another dimension. Before you worry about her, don't. Chris went after her."

"That's good, Pheebs. Chris can handle it. So why did you call me?"

"I don't know. It might have something to do with the fact that before he left, he _called you Mom!_" Phoebe cried. Piper bit her lip.

"Oh."

"Oh? What do you mean, oh? Do you know what he's talking about?"

"Umm, no?" Piper tried.

"Don't give me that, Piper. Our Whitelighter from the future is your SON and you didn't feel the need to tell me?"

"To be fair, Pheebs, I only found out today, the first time Paige went MIA on us."

"That doesn't help. I mean, not only do I find out that I'm going to have another nephew, but I also find out that our Whitelighter from the future is half-witch! And, oh yeah, how could I forget. THEY'RE ONE AND THE SAME PERSON!" Piper held the phone away from her ear.

'_Wow.'_ She thought._ 'Phoebe's really pissed off about this. She never gets this worked up.'_

"Pheebs, listen to me." She instructed her younger sister. "Go make yourself a cup of camomile tea. It's soothing. I'm presuming Wyatt's with you?"

"He's playing in the conservatory where I can keep an eye on him and work at the same time." Phoebe confirmed.

"Good. Keep an eye on him. I'm coming home now." Piper answered.

"I should hope so!" Phoebe said huffily. "Oh, before I forget to mention it, what are you mad at him about?" Piper felt angry again thinking about it. She had managed to forget that her eldest son was going to father a child at 17, but Phoebe had just reminded her why both her children were in for a very long grounding. As soon as Chris was born.

"I'll tell you when I get home. Bye Pheebs." She hung up. Checking to see if the few staff that could actually make it to work were ok with her going home, she headed up the stairs and out of the club. It was only when she went outside that she realised Chris had orbed her over. The SUV was parked neatly outside of the Manor. Piper sighed.

'_This has been one long day.'

* * *

_

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Penny Halliwell demanded angrily, as Paige stood staring at her.

"Umm, I can explain everything, Mrs. Halliwell. But as you can see, I'm kind of in an awkward position at the moment. Could I maybe borrow some clothes so I don't freeze to death? I really don't want to get another cold."

"Another cold?" Penny asked, confused. "Aren't you a Whitelighter? You should be already dead. And if you are a Whitelighter, what are you doing wearing a towel?" Paige shivered.

"Like I said, I'll be happy to explain everything. P-please, P-P-Penny. It's r-r-eall-ll-y c-co-cold!" Paige's shakes became more pronounced, and worried, Penny led her to some boxes at the back of the attic.

"Here. I think I have some clothes that might fit you." She rummaged through the large cardboard boxes marked "Penny".

"As l-l-long as the-there are n-no go-go b-boots in t-t-t-there." Paige stuttered, trying to joke. Penny frowned. Acting on impulses she couldn't explain, she quickly started rhyming, before Paige had time to protest.

"This woman who came here from goodness knows where,

Warm her, clothe her and dry her hair!"

Light momentarily blinded Penny and Paige. When they could see again, Paige was dry, wearing clothes out of her own closet at home and no longer shivering.

"Wow." She said admirably. "Thanks, Grams." As soon as the word was out of her mouth, she regretted it.

"Grams!" Penny exclaimed. "Just who are you?"

"Umm, you see, I'm your grand-daughter. My name is Paige Matthews."

"Impossible." Penny said imperiously. "I only have three grand-daughters. Prue, Piper and Phoebe."

"Oh." Paige frowned. "Then maybe I don't exist here. I don't know. You see, I'm actually from another reality. I'm Prue, Piper and Phoebe's younger half sister."

"You're –" Suddenly the pieces clicked into place for Penny. "Sam – you're Sam and Patty's –"

"Oh, so I do exist here!" Paige said, delighted. "Good! Because I'm tired of going to dimensions where I'm dead." As she finished, she realised she was talking to herself. Penny had fainted. Paige groaned.

"Today is so not my day." She complained to herself. She began trying to wake her grandmother up, and that was where Chris found her a half an hour later when he appeared in the attic. Paige glanced up as he materialised.

"Chris! Thank God. Can you help? She won't wake up! She's breathing steadily, and her heart rate is strong, so I don't think she's had a heart attack, but still…" Chris hurried over to where his aunt sat trying to wake his great-grandmother.

"You're right." He said, after a quick assessment. "She just fainted. What happened?"

"Umm, she just found out I'm her grand-daughter." Paige said sheepishly. "And don't even start on the future consequences stuff, because we're not in the past, and anything I tell her about our dimension won't affect this one! Plus, I'm the aunt, so I say don't backcheek me."

"I wasn't going to." Chris replied, amused. "You think I wouldn't have studied alternate dimensions? Hello Paige, with everything I do in the past I risk creating one! Except you people just don't seem to get that!"

"You people?" Paige arced an eyebrow. "You wouldn't by any chance be referring to your beloved mother and darling aunties now, would you?"

"That's not the point." Chris said, annoyed.

"So what is?" Paige asked innocently.

"This is.

Let those who lie in slumber deep,

Awaken at once from their sleep."

Chris chanted. Paige was impressed.

"Wow. Do you make rhymes on the spot like that often?"

"That wasn't on the spot." Chris said, helping a groggy Penny to sit up. "I adapted it. And no. Only when I really need to."

"Who taught you? Phoebe?" Chris nodded absently as Penny shook her head.

"Aunt Phoebe and War-" This time he caught himself and didn't finish the name. He felt slightly pleased with himself for _not_ spilling more future info.

"What happened?" Penny asked weakly, thankfully drawing Paige's attention away from her nephew. "Who are you? Where's Paige?"

"Right here, Grams." Paige said from behind her. Penny's head swung around. "And as for who he is, that would be your great-grandson." She introduced.

"I'm Chris." The witchlighter spoke. Penny's head turned to stare at him.

"What? Great-grandson? I don't have any great-grandsons!"

"Oh. So Piper has Melinda here to?" Paige guessed.

"What? Piper doesn't have children! Who are you people and what are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? How do I know that you aren't demons? And another thing. If you really are Patty's youngest daughter, shouldn't your powers be bound? For all I know you could be trying to just get close to me so you can kill me!" Wordlessly, Chris fumbled around his neck. He pulled out a long chain from under his t-shirt.

"Is that-?" Penny asked, quiet though still angry.

"Chris, what are you doing with a triquetra round your neck?" Paige asked, as confused as her grandmother. Penny seemed to sense this, and looked back and forth between the two.

"Our family symbol." Chris told Penny. "Right? My mom, my Aunt Paige and my Aunt Phoebe gave these to me, my brother, my sister and my cousins when we got our powers. They're charmed to warn us if evil is around. I brought it back with me because deep down, I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to keep who I was a secret forever." He explained to Paige, and slightly to Penny as well. "I knew that one of these days I'd need it to prove who I am."

"But – all upper level demons know about the triquetra." Penny blustered. "You could have picked that up anywhere!" Paige clicked her tongue.

"Book of Shadows!" she called, and the ancient tome disappeared from its resting place and reappeared in her arms. Penny gaped.

"Believe me now?" Paige asked smugly, opening the Book.

**AnimeAlexis:** Quick, huh? This was done in double time! A lot faster than I thought I'd have it up. Review please!


	9. Pegasus Perseus Halliwell

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 9**

"Ok." Penny said, trying to calm herself. She took a few deep breaths. "Ok. So you're not evil. And you're probably family. Where are you from?" she asked. Chris and Paige exchanged glances. Penny looked to be in serious shock.

"Um, Mrs. Halliwell?" Chris said hesitantly, reluctant to call the woman before him Grams. It would probably lead to her fainting again, and a heart attack was what had killed her in the first place. "Do you want to go downstairs?"

"No!" Penny snapped immediately. "Piper and Phoebe are visiting, I don't want them finding anything out about magic."

"Are we in the past?" Paige questioned, confused. "Because I didn't think I could sneeze my way into the past." Chris shook his head.

"I don't think we're in the past." He replied carefully.

"Ok, good. Wait. Does that mean I _can_ sneeze into the past?" she demanded. Chris ignored her.

"What's today's date, Mrs. Halliwell?" he asked loudly.

"Shouldn't it be Grams?" Penny frowned at him. "After all, didn't she say you were my great-grandson? Piper's _son_? Oh my Goddess." She continued, a thought occurring to her. "A boy. You're a boy, and a Halliwell! Oh my goodness. _And_ you said you had a brother. What in heaven's name is going on here!"

"What is it with people today and wanting me to call them by titles?" Chris muttered to himself.

"Never mind that." Paige said excitedly. "I can orb into the past if I sneeze? Can I go to the future too?"

"I wouldn't recommend it." Chris replied sternly. "You wouldn't like my future. And ok, fine. Grams then. Can we please focus on the matter at hand?"

"What matter is that?" Penny asked curiously.

"Getting home! I left Phoebe watching Wyatt and Piper running P3 by herself!" he exclaimed. Paige grinned.

"Chris, they're used to that. They do it all the time."

"Yeah, but mom's still mad at me for telling her Wyatt had a daughter … at… 17. Whoops." He said sheepishly. "Forgot you didn't know that yet."

"Wait. You told Piper about her granddaughter, but you won't tell me and Phoebe whether we even _have_ kids?" Paige glared at him.

"It was an accident!" Chris protested. "My big secret is out, now I keep forgetting what you do and don't know! When we get back, I'm just going to have to wipe your memories."

"Don't even think about it, mister. Do you _want_ to end up Percy Halliwell?" Paige shot back. Chris looked at her in horror.

"You wouldn't dare." She looked at him innocently, as Penny glanced back and forth between the bickering two, clearly getting more confused by the second.

"Well, it's not my fault. If you wipe the memory of us ever calling Piper's baby Chris – which, by the way, we still haven't actually ensured will happen – you could end up as Pegasus Perseus Halliwell." Chris covered his ears.

"Stop right there, Aunt Paige."

"Or Pandora, or Pearl. The possibilities are endless!"

"All right, all right. I'll wait until I'm born, then wipe your memories. Ok?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Paige retorted. A high, piercing whistle interrupted the argument.

"Ow!" Paige said, covering her ears as Chris lowered his hands. "What was that for, Grams?"

"For ignoring me." Penny said sharply. "Now. Grandson person."

"Great-grandson, actually. And my name is Chris." The witchlighter informed her. Penny waved her arms impatiently.

"Whatever. Today is November the 15th, 2003. Why do you ask?"

"Just to make sure we weren't from the future." He replied.

"And are you?"

"Nope. Alternate dimension." He affirmed.

"Right. So how do we get you back before you two mess things up?"

"Pepper worked the last time." Paige suggested. She kept going with a musing "You know Chris, she's quite like you, actually. And you look –"

"Like Piper and I have Leo's eyes. Let me guess, you don't know why you couldn't see the resemblance?" Chris filled in for her.

"Well, yeah!" Paige concurred. At his sheepish look she grew suspicious.

"What did you do?"

"Cast a spell. So you wouldn't _see_ who I was until you had been _told _who I was. And since I wasn't planning to tell you, you wouldn't ever guess. Call it insurance." He admitted, explaining his reasoning.

"So where's the pepper, then?" he asked Grams. "We need to get home so I can get on with doing what I was supposed to be doing in the first place."

"Protecting Wyatt. Which, may I add, also makes a lot more sense now." Paige added.

"Does that mean you'll stop distrusting everything I do and help me save him?" Chris asked quickly.

"We'll see." Paige conceded. "though you could tone down on the demon hunts. Oh, by the way, Piper's planning to force feed you when you get home. She says you're too scrawny." Chris groaned.

"Actually, Grams, hide the pepper."

"Why?" Penny asked curiously.

"Have _you _ever been force fed by Piper?" Paige asked.

"No. But Piper's a good cook. Well, my Piper is anyway."

"Oh, ours is too." Chris assured her. "But when she thinks you haven't been eating, she makes a banquet and you have to eat it by yourself." He shuddered, and Paige looked at him curiously.

"You sound like you have a lot of experience with this."

"Well, she _is_ my mother." He retorted.

"No, what I mean is –" But Chris was spared what was sure to be a lecture by a voice calling out from downstairs.

"Grams? Where did you go to?" Phoebe was obviously searching the first floor. Paige, very uncharacteristically, panicked.

"What are we going to do?" Penny looked stumped, but Chris immediately took charge.

"We're going to orb downstairs into two separate guest bedrooms. Paige, I'm going to act as your brother, ok? The age gap is way too close for anything else, and I am _not_ acting as your boyfriend. Penny, we're cousins, visiting from out of town, all right? Now, I'm going to orb you down to the main bathroom and Paige and I will follow from the bedrooms as if we had been asleep. We'll get the pepper and get out of here. Good with both of you?" his aunt and granfmother nodded, looking impressed. Chris orbed Penny downstairs, then he and Paige followed hurriedly. None of them noticed the attic door left open, and Phoebe's steps climbing the stairs.

---------------

Back at the Halliwell Manor where the Charmed Ones currently resided, Phoebe had calmed down slightly by the time Piper got home. Piper, however, was in a mood. She had had to call a taxi to get her home after her son had let her stranded at the club. And this particular taxi company hadn't been cheap. Piper made a mental note _not_ to use them again as she climbed the Manor's outside steps and let herself into the house.

"Pheebs? Wyatt?" she called.

"In the conservatory!" Phoebe called back. Piper deposited her coat on the rack and went to find her sister and young son.

"I guess Paige and Chris aren't home yet, then, are they?" she asked hopefully. Phoebe shook her head.

"Sorry. Still MIA. How come you didn't tell me you had another son?" Piper sighed.

"There was no time. You were out on a date, and Paige and I only found out today. The first time Paige orbed herself into another dimension."

"Huh?" Phoebe asked confusedly. Piper began to explain the story to her.

--------------------

Prue Halliwell fished into her purse for her spare keys as she stood on the steps of the Halliwell Manor. It had been ages since she had come over to visit Grams, and she wished it could have been in better circumstances. She wiped tears from her eyes angrily, rooting around in her purse. She whirled around as she heard footsteps behind her on the porch. A young woman she had never seen before was looking nervously up at the house.

"Who are you?" Prue asked, too upset to remember her manners. The young woman looked startled as she took in the oldest Halliwell sister. Prue realised she must look a state with smudged mascara, red eyes and mussed up hair.

"Are you ok?" the young woman asked, in a blunt manner that Prue guessed she used for most things.

"Not really." She shrugged. "Can I help you with something?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. I'm here to see Penny Halliwell. Is this the right address?" Prue nodded.

"She's my grandmother. I'm just here for a visit, but I can't seem to find my keys." Tossing her dark hair back, the girl took a step forward. Prue instinctively backed up against the door. The girl made a tutting noise, and pulled a set of keys out of the side pocket of the handbag. She dangled them in front of Prue.

"Are these what you were looking for?" she questioned. Prue nodded, taking them and smiling at the other woman.

"Thanks." She found the Manor's house key and put it in the lock, twisting it. As the door started open, Prue nodded at the young woman. "Do you want o come in?"

"Thank you." The girl said, stepping into the Manor's attic hesitantly. She glanced around the foyer as Prue hung up her coat and wiped her eyes. Another woman stepped out of the sitting room, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her older sister.

"Prue! What are you doing here?" Piper squealed excitedly. "And who's this?"

"She's here to see Grams." Prue explained, hugging her sister tightly. "I missed you, Piper."

"Missed you too. I thought you didn't want to see us again?"

"Well, you were right." Prue told her. "But we'll talk about that later. Now that you mention it though, Piper, I don't think I got your name." she enquired of the young woman.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't give it." She replied. "I'm…"

----------------

Upstairs in the same house, Penny called her granddaughters name, curious as to why Phoebe didn't answer.

_'Maybe she went back downstairs.'_ She pondered. Paige peeked her head out of one of the bedrooms.

"She's not up here?" she queried. Chris stepped out of another room just as the lights in the house flickered and went out. A thump sounded from upstairs.

"More like she's not down here." Chris commented, sprinting for the stairs.

_'The page at the front of the Book.'_ Paige thought. _'If Phoebe's up there, she may have read it. Oh my God, she's given the Charmed Ones their powers!'_ She legged it after Chris, Penny hurrying behind. Although the old lady didn't know what was going on, it was clear from her relatives reactions that it wasn't good.

**AnimeAlexis:** What do you think? Review and let me know please! Oh, and apologies for the weird page breaks, there's something screwed up about the document manager.


	10. Blackout

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 10**

They expected to see demons in the house or Phoebe having fainted on the floor, but it turned out she had only dropped the Book. Nonetheless, Paige wasn't convinced Phoebe wasn't hurt or in shock. She rushed over to her older sister, checking her over to make sure she was ok. Penny bent over to pick up the Book and return it to its stand and Chris, seeing everything was alright, went downstairs to try and turn the power back on. Luckily, it was only around five or six o'clock, so the house wasn't in total darkness. Phoebe and Paige's eyes took time adjusting to the little light as Penny rooted around in her magic supplies for candles and a lighter. Phoebe studied Paige carefully, wondering why she looked so much like Prue.

"Do I know you?" Phoebe asked. Paige smiled.

"Not yet." Phoebe looked slightly freaked out, so Paige quickly amended her statement.

"I'm a …distant cousin. My brother and I are here visiting your Grams. I'm Paige Matthews, he's Chris."

"The guy that went downstairs?" Phoebe checked. Paige nodded.

"That's right."

"Never mind that now." Penny interrupted harshly. "Phoebe, what did you read in the Book?" Phoebe turned her attention to her Grams.

"Um, some stuff about an ancestor Melinda…Warren, and a prophecy about 4 powerful sister witches, and an incantation thingy."

"You read it aloud?" Grams asked incredulously. "Just on a whim?"

"It's not a big deal, Grams. It was just an old fairytale thing, going on about the Power of Four and witches and Salem."

"The Power of Four?" Paige stood, looking puzzled. She went over to the Book and asked for one of Gram's lit candles. She opened the front page. "That's what it says here all right. But I don't understand."

"What?" Grams asked, when Paige didn't elaborate. The redhead looked up from her reading.

"It's not supposed to be like this. The girls only found me after Prue, umm…ok, no easy way to say this. After Prue died." Grams paled in shock, but Paige kept going. "It was supposed to be the Power of Three, not Four." She explained to Grams as a baffled Phoebe looked on. Still pale, Penny frowned thoughtfully.

"But that's your world. Maybe here it isn't Prue's destiny to die. Maybe here it _is_ meant to be the four of you." Paige nodded.

"If that's so, we'd better go find your reality's version of me, Piper and Prue. They're going to start getting their powers, and do you _know_ how freaked out I was when I first discovered I was magical?"

"Piper's here, remember? I told you she was visiting. In any case, she only lives next door. But Prue and Paige might be harder to find." Frustrated, Phoebe snapped at them.

"What the hell are you two talking about? Look, whatever incantation I read can't refer to us. I only have two sisters!" Paige turned solemn eyes to her.

"No, you don't. You have three sisters. And Melinda Warren's prophecy refers to you four. To Prue, Piper, you and your younger sister. It refers to me."

"To you?" What do you mean, to you?"

"I'm your half sister. I was given up at birth." Paige explained. Phoebe laughed disbelievingly.

"You're delusional. Crazy!"

"I'm not. I know this is a shock, but it's all true."

"Hah! You expect me to take your word for it? That book, the Book of Shadows, talked about magic, powers. About witches. If you're a witch, prove it."

_'Was I this stubborn when the girls were trying to introduce me to my heritage?'_ she huffed silently. Outward, she nodded, remaining calm. Overhead the lights flickered back on. Phoebe jumped, then looked incredulous.

"You don't expect me to believe that was you, do you?" Paige grinned.

"Nope. That was Chris. He must've fixed the fuse. This is what I do." Demonstrating, she orbed out and back into place. Phoebe's eyes were wide as saucers, while Grams looked interested.

"It looks like you inherited a lot from your Whitelighter side." She noted.

"But as you've seen already, Grams, I inherited a little something from my witchy side as well. Book of Shadows!" In a variation of her earlier 'trick', the Book dissolved into blue orbs.

"Phoebe!" Paige called, directing the orbs to her older sister, who gasped when the Book reformed in her lap.

"Who are you?" she breathed. Paige grinned cheekily.

"I told you. I'm your sister. I'm…"

-------------------

"Paige Matthews." the girl introduced herself as the lights went out. Piper let out a little shriek and grabbed for Prue.

"Easy, Piper. It's just a blackout." The older Halliwell reassured her.

"Paige? Are you ok?" she asked, trying to make out the dark haired girl in the gloom.

"Yeah. I'm here." Paige replied. Prue reached out a hand and the younger woman caught it. Prue gave the hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Let's go into the sitting room. There's more light in there." Prue suggested. She could just make out Piper and Paige's nodding heads as she led them into the front room.

"I'll go see if I can fix the fusebox. Piper, do you know where a flashlight is?"

"I'm on it!" a male voice called as a figure hurtled through the hall to the kitchen and came back shining a light in front of him.

"Huh. I thought Grams said only Piper was here." He commented.

"Excuse me. Who are you?"

"Chris." He replied, smiling.

_'How many times am I going to have to introduce myself to my mother and aunts before I'm born?'_ he wondered.

"And how do you know us?" Piper asked.

"I don't. But I do know your Grams, Penny. Here." He said, handing a second flashlight to the nearest person to him, which happened to be Prue.

"I'm going to go get the lights working again. Don't leave here, ok?" he looked earnestly to each of them, then headed for the basement. Prue pointed after him.

"That guy is seriously weird. Why'd he ask us to stay in here?" Piper shook her head.

I don't know, but…does he seem familiar to you? I feel like I should know him from somewhere."

"He looks kind of like you." Paige offered. Piper looked startled.

"Like me?"

"Yeah." Paige nodded. "Are you sure he's not a cousin or something?"

"I didn't think we had any male cousins on Grams' side." Prue frowned. After a few moments' silence, she looked at Paige curiously.

"So why are you here anyway?" The younger woman was clearly startled and embarrassed by the question.

"Well, you see…" The lights flickered back on as she was trying to figure out what to say, and Chris came jogging back up the stairs.

"You guys still ok here?" he asked. The trio slowly nodded.

"So who are you again?" Paige questioned.

"I told you, Paige. I'm Chris."

"So we heard. But I really don't think that's enough information." Prue niggled, still curious.

"Wait. How do you know her name?" Piper asked, astonished. Chris looked furious with himself.

"Good going, Chris. Why don't you just tell them you're…" he muttered, trailing off when he realised the three were still gazing at him in bewilderment. He grinned uneasily.

"I'll be right back." He turned and fled the room, sprinting up the stairs. Prue and Piper exchanged glances before dashing after him, Prue calling "C'mon, Paige!" behind her.

----------------

(A/N: So you know the drill. The Paige we know is Paige1, Power of Four Paige is Paige2. Let me know if you get confused!)

Upstairs, Paige1, Phoebe and Penny heard the noise. Paige1 raised her eyebrows as Chris dashed in the attic door.

"We need to go now. I called Paige by her name and Prue is really suspicious of me. She's not a very trusting person."

"Prue and Paige are here?" Grams verified. Chris nodded.

"Shouldn't they be?" he asked, confused. Phoebe spoke up, not really knowing why she wasn't scared out of her wits at being surrounded by witches. It seemed like some part of her had recognised – or maybe remembered – the fact that she was magical.

"Well, Prue hasn't talked to us in over a year and a half. See, she married this jackass Roger – even though we told her he was bad news. He tried to come on to me, but she wouldn't believe it. She took his side and refused to listen to my story."

"And believe me, I'm so sorry about that, Phoebe." Prue apologised as she entered the attic. The fire in her eyes as she thought about Roger was enough to melt steel as she explained.

"I'm uh, getting a divorce from him. I caught him cheating on me."

"Oh, Prue." Piper said sadly, her attention going from scrutinising the attic to her older sister. Prue shrugged nonchalantly, though the tears that Paige2 had seen earlier had returned.

"It doesn't matter. He's – he's done it before, I'm sure. And at work he treats me like a non-person. Except when he takes credit for my work, of course. I've told him to stop, I've threatened to leave him. And then he apologises and tries to win me back over. And the funny thing is, I always forgave him. No matter what he did, I always came back. Until I caught him in bed with the museum's accountant." Phoebe stood, wrapping her arms around Prue.

"I just don't know why I turned a blind eye for so long. And I'm scared I'll forgive him again and it'll all go back to normal. That's why I came over here. I wanted to apologise for the way I treated you, for the fact that I never believed you. I am so sorry. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I'm not asking for anything. I just wanted to tell you."

"Prue, of course we forgive you! You're our sister, Grams' granddaughter. You don't turn your back on family. And we understand why you did what you did. We've all been in love before. It's just not fair that you had to get hurt so badly." Phoebe told her.

"Where are you going to stay?" Piper enquired. "You can't go back."

"I haven't thought about it yet." Prue shrugged. "I'll check into a hotel somewhere."

"Well, Jenny, Dan and I would be happy to have you." Piper offered. Phoebe nodded.

"You could move in with me. I wouldn't mind the company."

"No." Grams said firmly. "She's going to stay here, at home. Here is where we're strongest, and we can keep Roger away."

"Roger…hmm." Paige1 murmured, wondering which of the stories of her sisters' past she had heard of Roger in. When it clicked, she looked at Prue.

"Roger the museum guy? I've heard stories about him. From what I know, you're so much better off without him."

"Thanks." Prue smiled, glancing over at her. She stiffened, then looked over her shoulder.

"You didn't tell us you had a twin, Paige."

**AnimeAlexis:** I know, I know, it took forever to come out! But I had rowing All-Irelands followed by a trip to Wales, so I didn't have connection to the Net for like 2 weeks. And THEN, when I thought I was home free, I got a callback for a TV show that had me staying in a hotel in Dublin for four days, again with no internet. Torture! You should see the state of my mail inbox. Anyway, I'll hopefully have a new chap up soon, before I have to go back to school. For those who are reading He's Not Your Son, I've updated that, too! Review please!


	11. The Power of Four

'**Disclaimer**: If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 11**

"I don't have a twin!" Paige2 squeaked. She had been staring open-mouthed at her counterpart since she had first caught sight of her.

"Well, you must do. You two could really be the same person! Well, except for the hair." Piper noted. Paige1's hair hadn't been dyed back to its original brown since the potion accident a year ago. The strawberry-blonde colour was, understandably, the only way to differentiate between the two. Paige1 looked uncomfortable.

"Any ideas?" she hissed aside to Chris.

"Sorry, Paige. I'm fresh out." He responded, looking nervously around the room. Piper started.

"Wait. You're named Paige too?" she questioned. "What are you, a clone or something? This is like something out of a bad sci-fi movie."

"Try fantasy. It's closer." Chris quipped.

"So not the time." Paige told him. He shrugged.

"Ok. Crash course." Paige decided. "Magic 101. Chris and I are from another dimension. He's my nephew, your" she pointed at Piper. "son from the future, and also our current guardian angel. She" her finger pointed at Paige2 this time. "is your half sister. Grams is a witch, our mom was a witch. You guys are the Charmed Ones. The four most powerful good witches ever. Phoebe here just read a spell in the Book of Shadows – your magic book – to give you your powers. Paige, I know you're thinking of running right now. How? Because I'm you. Please don't run away, it's way too dangerous to go out now when you've just got your powers. Oh, yeah. Just to save time for you guys, Prue can move things with her mind, Piper can slow down molecules to freeze objects, Whitelighters, demons and mortals, Phoebe can get premonitions and Paige, you have telekinesis too, but your power works differently than Prue's." she let out her breath in a whoosh.

"Did I forget anything?" she asked Chris. He laughed.

"Nope. I think they might want to, though. Did you have to tell them everything at once?"

"Oh, like you're Mr. Perfect. You were the one that called the other me by name before you were even introduced!" Penny, recognising the signs of an impending argument (most of which would probably consist of sarcastic sniping), cut them off.

"Alright, you two. Back to your corners. Haven't you done enough arguing today?" the two dimension travellers grinned.

"We do this a lot." Paige1 confessed.

"Baiting Aunt Paige is one of my favourite pastimes in the future." Chris smiled nostalgically for his childhood memories.

"Didn't I _die_ in your future?" Paige1 asked him. Chris shook his head.

"Like I explained to mom earlier, when I saved you from the Titans, my memories changed. You were around for most of my childhood."

"But I still died in the end, didn't I?" she figured. Chris dodged the question.

"Everyone's gotta die sometime." He pointed out logically.

"So I still died young." Paige1 deduced. "Hmph, that is not fair."

"Get over it, Paige. We all die sometime." Chris repeated.

"Boy, you guys are morbid." Phoebe interjected. "And random. Have you not noticed the effect your news had on my sisters?" The two frowned, only now taking stock of the fact that Piper had sunk to the floor and was now staring at her feet, Paige2 was hovering near the door – obviously anxious to get away – and Prue was still staring at them like she thought they were mad. Paige1 sighed.

"I made a bit of a mess of things, didn't I?" she asked redundantly. Phoebe nodded, while Chris grinned.

"Grams, I hate to tell you this, but your relatives are crazy. I think we need to call the police now. Or maybe the mental asylum." Prue said dryly. Piper made a choked noise from her position on the floor. Paige1 looked at Chris.

"I do believe it's your turn to prove the fact that we're witches." She informed him.

"Fine. Orb that vase up."

"Aunt Pandora's one?" Paige asked disbelievingly, then stopped. "Wait. Haven't I done this before?"

"Umm, no." Chris replied.

"Yeah, I did!" Paige protested, thinking hard to figure it out. "Oh yeah! With Piper, this morning. She did the same thing. You two are really alike. Hey, wait. Can you freeze stuff?" she asked, making connections no one else would think to look for.

"Yeah. I don't use it a lot here, though."

"Why not?" Paige asked curiously.

"Well, have _you _ever seen a Whitelighter with telekinesis or freezing power?" he stated sarcastically.

"Good point." Paige accepted. Chris inclined his head, then waved a hand at two of the cushions on the couch. One zoomed to Prue, who caught it quickly. The other headed for Paige2, who yelped and disappeared. She orbed back into place, looking around her for the pillow which had hit the wall.

"What just happened?" she questioned, stunned.

"Yeah, you're not going to be able to control that orbing for a while, sorry." Paige1 apologised. "It took me forever to be able to orb when I wanted to. And I still orb involuntarily when I'm scared."

"Or when she sneezes." Chris filled in helpfully. "Which is actually the whole reason we're in this mess." Paige1 sent an annoyed glare his way.

"Not the time, Chris. Hard as it may be, can you hold your tongue now and bitch later?" the younger witchlighter shrugged.

"Fine. So what do we do now?"

"Excuse me?" Paige2 interjected politely. "What the _hell_ just happened to me? I saw the pillow coming towards me and then there were blue lights, and then the pillow hit the wall! Without hitting me!"

"You orbed." Paige1 said patiently. "It's kind of the way Whitelighters get around."

"Whitelighters?" Paige2 asked curiously. "What's a Whitelighter?"

"Kind of like … guardian angels." Chris explained. "Your parents, your birth parents, were a witch and an angel. The girls' mom, Patty, and a Whitelighter called Sam."

"You…you know my birth parents?" Paige2 whispered hoarsely. Since her adoptive parents had died, she hadn't wanted to look for her birth family. It just didn't seem right that she could just find other people to replace the hole their death had made. But…about two years ago, she had had a dream. Her parents had appeared, telling her that they were so proud of her. That they would always love her, but there was another family out there who would love her just as much. They had told her to find her other family. Her search had eventually led her here, to the Manor. And now, she was being told about a family that were magical. That her mother had been a witch, and her grandmother and sisters were too. _Another version of herself_ was explaining that she had magic powers, that her father was an angel, that she had three older sisters. Paige2 was on the borderline of freaking out. If she was honest with herself, the only thing really keeping her from running screaming was the fact that her sisters looked as stupefied as she felt.

"Yeah." Chris was saying as Paige2's thoughts rambled. "I've met them once or twice and you…well, the other you, her, talks about them all the time."

"B – but, they're dead." She said softly. Paige1 mustered a small smile. Talking about the subject was hard for her too.

"Yeah, they are. But that's one of the good things about being a witch. Death…isn't always the end." Paige2 matched her counterpart's half-smile.

"So you're our sister?" Phoebe confirmed, looking from the one to the other. "Grams, did you know we had another sister?" she demanded suddenly, realising that Penny hadn't shown any surprise at the fact. Penny nodded guiltily.

"Your mother asked me never to tell anyone. She didn't want to put you at risk."

"She didn't what?" Phoebe asked incredulously. "Why would she think we would be at risk?"

"If the Elders had found out that a Whitelighter and his charge had…she was afraid – we were afraid you would be denied your powers. Your birthright."

"But…you didn't give them their powers." Paige1 pointed out. "Why did you keep Paige from them if you weren't intending to let them have their birthright yourself?"

"A long time has passed since we made that decision, Paige. I raised these girls, I watched them grow up. I couldn't just put them into the danger of being the Charmed Ones. I don't want them to get hurt."

"Grams, their powers are a part of them. You gave them a great childhood, but they're all grown up now. They can handle it."

"How do you know?" Penny snapped. Paige1 grinned.

"I know because we handled it. We still handle it. Sure, Piper harps on about her normal life all the time, but even she wouldn't have her life any other way." She glanced at the Piper on the floor hopefully. Piper looked intently back up at her.

"My life? I have a life that I love. A husband that I adore. And I've just found out that all me life has been based on a lie! I'm supposed to have these magic powers. I just found out I have another sister! And, another version of her as well as a twenty-something year old who has been introduced as _my son_, are standing there telling me that their version of me likes her life? A life which Grams has said she doesn't want us into because it's dangerous? Forgive me if I'm a little freaked out right now." Phoebe frowned and opened her mouth to talk some sense into her sister, but an angry voice interrupted her.

"Mom." Chris addressed the woman on the floor. She turned her heated glare from Paige to him. "I don't know if I can call you that here, considering that I think you're with some guy called Dan and not dad, but I've known you my whole life. I've heard you complain about magic over and over, but I've also heard the pride under your voice. I _know_ you're going to be a good witch. I _know_ that this won't ruin your life. Magic affected your life – all of your lives – in so many good ways, as well as bad. What do you work as?" he questioned abruptly. Piper, startled at the seemingly random question, answered hesitantly.

"I – I work in a bank." Chris nodded, as if that was what he had expected.

"You hate it." He told her matter-of-factly. "You love cooking, you always have. You've always wanted to work as a chef. But you were afraid you'd be no good. You never managed to bring yourself to apply as a chef, because you were afraid of taking the risk. But magic – fighting warlocks and demons all the time and not ever giving up – helped you find what you wanted in the world. In our world, you own a club." Piper looked interestedly at him, still seeming disbelieving about what he said.

"It's called P3. It stands for the Power of Three, first for you, Prue and Phoebe, later for Phoebe, Paige and you. It's a kick ass club, and you love running it. Magic also brought you us. My older brother, my younger sister and I. It brought you to the love of your life, my father Leo. Personally I'm not too fond of him, but I didn't choose him. Now, the circumstances may be different here." He acknowledged. "But I know that you'll make it your life. You'll make a great witch, and a great life, whether we're part of that life or not. But magic is a part of it. That's not something you can ever help, or change. But it's not a bad thing." He ended his speech in a hopeful tone of voice. Slowly, Piper smiled at him. Looking relieved, he grinned back. Paige1 was impressed. Nonetheless,

"How come we know know about your sister and Wyatt's daughter, but I still don't know about my future family?" he sighed.

"Paige, give it a rest."

"No. Annoying you is fun, and you know you get a kick out of the arguments too." She retorted. Chris grinned at her and inclined his head in agreement.

"So, anyone else have any questions?" he asked his mother, grandmother and aunts. They looked disbelievingly on as he continued

"No? Anybody? Good."

"I have a question." Phoebe put forward. Chris continued as if he hadn't heard her.

"Because Paige and I really need to be going home now."

"Chris, I have a question." Phoebe frowned.

"Because, you know, I'm sure we've caused enough damage already." He kept going.

"Chris!" Phoebe yelled. He looked at her reluctantly.

"Yes, Aunt Phoebe?" she grinned cheekily at him.

"Give me a hug before you go?" he exhaled in relief.

"I thought you were going to make me give another really long explanation of something. And at this stage, I think you might want to figure it out yourself." He bent down and hugged her quickly, Paige1 following suit. The rest of their family complied too, with varying degrees of awkwardness. When they were finished with the goodbyes, Paige1 turned to her nephew.

"So how do we get home? I don't see any pepper."

"Concentrate. You can orb to places within one dimension by sensing for the familiar, this is the same. Sense for home and follow your intuition. Then just orb. I'll go first, ok?" he smiled around at the assembled Halliwells, who by whichever name they were known by all still held Warren blood in them. Closing his eyes, he sensed for his home. Feeling the familiar presence of the Manor, he followed the feeling and orbed. He disappeared from the attic quickly.

"Sure, it's easy for him. He's had practise. I, however…" she frowned nervously and crossed her fingers. "Here goes." She said hopefully. Closing her eyes and trying to sense, she orbed.

**AnimeAlexis:** I know I said I'd try and get it out before I went back to school, but sadly that wasn't possible. And now I've got schoolwork and homework taking priority again, so updates will be slow. I'm sorry. But I won't abandon this, in fact I have a lot further in the story planned out, so don't worry! Review please! I love reading them!


	12. Good or Evil, who can tell?

**Disclaimer:** Basically, I don't own Charmed. I'm not making any profit on this, so nobody can sue!

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad repercussions. Slightly AU, with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 12**

Chris appeared in the Manor's attic. He was only mildly surprised to see Piper and Phoebe waiting on Aunt Pearl's old couch, and held up a hand to tell them to hold their questions for a little while. He waited a few seconds for Paige to appear next to him. When a minute passed and she didn't appear, a worried frown crossed his face.

"Paige should've orbed back with me." He informed his mother and aunt. "She was supposed to sense for you and orb here." It was only as he was speaking that he realised they were both glaring at him.

"So you're mad at me too?" he asked his Aunt Phoebe. It was a rhetorical question, he already knew the answer. "Look, I know you're both mad at me. Even if I don't quite get why. But can we talk about it later? After I go get Paige. Again." Closing his eyes, he ignored his mother's interruptions and sensed for his charge. Concentrating, he orbed to her. He opened his eyes to find that he was still in the attic, but Piper and Phoebe were gone and Paige was hugging him tightly instead.

_'Wow, she must have been freaked. Or maybe it's just her being sick. She never acts like this.'_ He thought as the air was squeezed out of him.

"I was so _worried_! I think I sensed to the wrong place, Chris. My cold is still gone and you disappeared and so did Grams and the girls…who are you?" she asked, staring at the young man who had just come in the attic door. Realising Chris was slowly turning purple from lack of oxygen, she hurriedly released him. The blonde man at the door looked confused. He glanced at Chris, seeming to dismiss him as someone of no importance.

"Who am I? Come on Paige, don't be an idiot. And should you really be bringing your boyfriends up _here_?" he tilted his head accusingly to one side.

"Boyfriend?!" Chris exclaimed, massaging his sore throat. "Ew, that's gross." He stared in bewilderment at the man, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. Paige, needing answers, decided to go with the blunt approach that had worked so well in the past.

"Excuse me. Who are you again?" The man grinned.

"You're kidding, right?" Paige shook her head, and the grin vanished.

"You're not kidding. Have you lost your memory or something?" Paige frowned thoughtfully, unwilling to completely rule out the possibility. After all, stranger things had happened.

"I don't think so…" she mused.

"Ok, do you know who you are?" the stranger asked. She nodded.

"Duh. Paige Matthews. Charmed One, Whitelighter, and current temp worker."

"Witchlighter." Chris said absently, as the man nodded at her answer.

"Ok, good start." He congratulated her. Realising what Chris had said, he turned to him. "What?"

"Witchlighter." Chris repeated. "It's a term my brother and I made up."

"For people who are part of both?" Paige smiled. "Clever." Chris smiled back at her, while the man cleared his throat.

"Great. Now, do you know who I am?"

"We already covered this one." Chris replied peevishly. "She said no." He hated puzzles, always wanting to find everything out at once, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out who this guy was."

"Ssh you." The other man snapped. He turned back to Paige. "I'm your Whitelighter, Matt. Remember?"

"Nuh-uh." She disagreed. She jabbed a thumb at Chris. "He's my Whitelighter." The man frowned, obviously thinking she was delusional. He looked back at Chris again, and narrowed his eyes.

_'Uh-oh. I hope he doesn't think that I've done something to her.'_ He had a feeling, however, that this man was feeling the same familiarity he was.

"Who did you say had made up that word?" Matt asked suspiciously.

"Me. And my brother." Chris answered cautiously.

"You can't have." Matt argued.

"Why not?" Paige asked.

"Because…never mind. You don't need to know that. I can't shake the feeling I know you from somewhere." Matt admitted to Chris. His blue eyes stared into Chris' green ones, and with a jolt, the two recognised each other.

_'Blonde, blue eyes. Matt. Matthew. Wyatt Matthew. Oh shit.'_ Chris immediately tensed for a fight, but stayed put, waiting for Wyatt to make the first move.

"Ok, I'm guessing you two know each other then." Paige said over the crackling tension in the room.

"Matt, huh? Do they know who you are _really_?" Chris spat. He wasn't letting his brother harm their family again.

"Chris, remember we're not at home. Whatever our dimension's version of this guy has done, I don't think this version has." Chris, seeing Wyatt's face relax, untensed slightly himself.

"Other dimension?" Wyatt echoed, looking in confusion at his aunt. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Paige here has, as you know, a nasty habit of sneezing herself across dimensions." Chris quipped. Paige made a face at him.

"Don't mind him, Matt. He's good at being annoying and sarcastic. Actually, it's about all he's good at." She said sweetly.

"Hey!" Chris protested, insulted. "Since I came back here I have saved your ass from a million demons."

"And turned your father into an Elder, hindering your chances of ever being conceived."

"Wyatt's more important." Chris argued, before remembering the subject himself was in the room. He turned back to his brother with cold eyes, mouth open to say something undoubtedly sarcastic, when he stopped. This Wyatt was different from the one he knew. For one thing, there was a definite lack of the Source's favourite colour, black. Wyatt was wearing jeans and a light red t-shirt. He was clean shaven, with short hair, and his whole stance seemed different. Not like an evil world dictator. It hit Chris then. This Wyatt was…

"Good." Wyatt breathed, eyes wide in amazement. "You're good! You're not evil!" his eyes sparkled.

"Neither are you!" Chris said excitedly. He stopped. "Wait. I'm not evil?" Paige, still clueless about the Whitelighter Matt's true identity, remained aware of one fact.

"Different dimension." She reminded Chris. Her nephew's heart sank.

_'For a second, I thought I had actually succeeded.'_ He thought bitterly.

"You're not…tell her who you are." He said dully. Wyatt's eyes widened. "Are you crazy? I'm not going to tell her who I am! I've been trying to keep that a secret since I got here! Though I guess if you're good…"

"I'm not from the future." Chris informed him. "Well, not from yours anyway. So you don't need to worry about future consequences. Just tell her who you are. Trust me, it's not going to affect anything."

"Trust you! After everything you've done?" Wyatt snapped. Chris flinched, before realising something.

"Oh God. I'm the evil one here, aren't I?" Wyatt looked at him, bewildered. Chris decided to enlighten him.

"Never mind about telling Paige who you are. It'll affect things after all. We," he said slowly, indicating himself and their aunt "are from a different dimension. In the dimension we're from, I'm in your position." He pointed at Wyatt, then at himself. "I'm the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter from the future. I came back –"

"To save me." Wyatt completed, realisation hitting. "To stop me from becoming evil."

"Yes." Chris said, relieved it had taken so little for him to understand, and that he was taking it so well.

"So, Chris is evil here?" Paige asked. Wyatt, hesitantly, nodded. "Then, who are you?" she repeated.

Before Chris could do anything to stop him, Wyatt introduced himself automatically. And if he used the name Chris thought he was going to use…

"Oh, sorry Paige. I'm Matt Perry. I'm your Whitelighter here." Chris slapped his forehead, while Paige stood in shock, the cogs in her brain turning.

"Did I say something wrong?" Wyatt asked, confused. Chris signalled to him, then pointed at his head. Wyatt nodded, and immediately Chris heard his brother's voice in his mind.

**_'How much does she know about you?'_** Chris winced.

_'As of today? Quite a lot. Who I am, for one.'_

_**'And me?'**_

_'Not so much.'_

_**'Oh. So what's the problem?'**_

_'Wyatt, take a wild guess how I introduced myself to the sisters.'_ Chris told him. Wyatt's brow furrowed, then straightened.

**_'Oh no. Please tell me you didn't –'_**

_'Use my middle name? Yeah, sorry. I did. So you just blew your biggest secret, and my second biggest one.'_

**_'What's your second biggest secret?'_** Wyatt asked.

_'What's yours?'_ Chris asked in return.

**_'Oh.'_** Wyatt replied, feeling idiotic.

_'Yeah, oh. Read her, check if she's guessed.'_ Wyatt chuckled.

**_'I don't need to. She's guessed.'_** Chris glanced at his aunt to find her mouth open in shock.

_'Perry. Isn't our Whitelighter Perry? No.' _Paige reminded herself. _'Chris' real name is Halliwell. So if Chris couldn't use his real name, maybe this guy is a Halliwell too.'_ She looked at the blonde again. _'Oh God. He's…'_

"Wyatt?" Paige whispered, staring at the man in front of her.

"Yeah. Now if you could just keep it to yourself…" But Paige's mind had turned down a different track.

"Chris is evil here. You came back to save him. So that means…" her wide eyes landed on Chris. "Wyatt in our world is _evil_?! Why the hell didn't you tell us!?"

"You don't need to know!" Chris retorted. "I'm on it."

"Right. The same person who split up his parents before he could be conceived."

"Will you quit bringing that up?" Chris pleaded.

"YOU WHAT!!" Wyatt thundered. Chris paled.

_'Oh crap. I forgot how overprotective good Wyatt is.'_

"YOU STOPPED YOURSELF FROM BEING CONCEIVED?!"

"See, this is what I said." Paige pointed out. Chris shot her a glare as Wyatt continued his rant.

"CHRIS, HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH AN IDIOT?!"

"Hey, I'm not conceived here either!" Chris defended himself. "How did _you _manage to become the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter without splitting Mom and Dad up?"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!" Wyatt shouted, his foghorn voice covering the thumping on the stairs. "THE POINT IS THAT YOU COULD DO SOMETHING SO MORONIC AS TO COME TO THE PAST WITHOUT COVERING ALL YOUR BASES!!"

"Saving you is more important." Chris argued stubbornly. _'You of all people should know that.'_ He added silently, knowing Wyatt would hear. Sure enough, Chris' brother slumped silently, sighing.

**_'I don't want you to cease to exist.'_** He pointed out. **_'Just to stay good.'_** Chris opened his mouth to reply, but was startled by a figure hurtling into the room and flinging out her hands.

**AnimeAlexis:** Ok, so this was originally planned as one chapter, but it ran way too long. So it's divided now, and I'll try and get the next part up asap. Please be patient, I'm really doing my best! Review please!


	13. Suspicious Minds

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 13**

"Piper, what are you doing?" Chris asked, amused at her obviously trying to freeze them. He hadn't forgotten her plea to call her mom, but this wasn't his mom. This was a different Piper. And his brother still had his secrets to keep. However, despite Chris' good intentions Piper still noticed something wrong.

"Ok, I get why Paige didn't freeze but why didn't you two freeze?" she asked Chris and Wyatt.

"I'm a witch, and you weren't pointing directly at him." Chris lied smoothly.

"Yes, I was." Piper argued. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Chris. This Paige and I are from another world, and we have to get home now." he informed her. With a typical Piper manner, she looked hardly surprised.

"Huh."

"Don't you love how that's just not unusual anymore?" Paige grinned, taking over the role of explainer. "I know that you're confused, even though you don't look it. So. Did that incident with Cole creating an alternate universe when you were pregnant with Wyatt ever happen here?" she queried. Piper nodded.

"Ok, well, remember the sneezing thing? Yeah, it happens _every_ time I have a cold." Paige clarified. "Chris and I are from another reality. I've been sneezing my way from dimension to dimension all day!" she whined.

"Yeah, and dragging me and mom with her." Chris muttered under his breath.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain who he is." Piper pointed at Chris.

"Hey, watch the finger, Piper!"

"What, you think I'm going to do a Sabrina on you?" Piper asked sarcastically.

"No, but would you like me to go shoving my finger at your face?" he snapped back. "I'm their version of Matt."

"What, a neurotic Whitelighter from the future come back to stop some great evil he won't tell us about?" Chris nodded, then shook his head quickly as he heard Wyatt in his head.

**_'Idiot! You told her you were a witch!'_**

"Except for the fact that Matt's a Whitelighter while I'm a witch." He amended quickly.

"Notice that he doesn't even deny the fact that he's neurotic." Paige pointed aside to her sister, who stifled a grin.

"I heard that, Paige." Chris growled at her. She stuck out his tongue.

**_'Some things never change.' _**Wyatt observed, noticing the interaction between his brother and his aunt. **_'Do you and Aunt Paige never stop arguing?'_**

_'Shut up, Wy.'_ Chris thought. His brother grinned.

"Why is everybody picking on me today?" the younger of the two brothers groaned aloud.

"Is he as big on future consequences as Matt?" Piper asked Paige, who laughed and nodded eagerly.

"Yep. That would be Chris' catch phrase. He won't tell us anything."

"Do you two know each other?" Piper asked Chris and Wyatt/Matt, who had been sending each other glances every so often while talking in their minds.

**_'Nice going, li'l bro. You nearly blew my cover.'_**

_'I'm sorry, ok? But to be fair, you did blow mine…'_

_**'Don't even think about it.'**_ Wyatt warned. Piper's shouted "Hey!" made them turn their attention back to her.

"What?" they asked at the same time.

"I said, do you two know each other." Piper repeated, slightly miffed at their cheek.

"No." Chris declared, as Wyatt shrugged "Yes."

_'Moron.'_ Chris told his older brother, slapping his forehead.

"Um, we just met?" Wyatt tried. Piper folded her arms as her eyes narrowed, and Paige – who bear in mind was no part of the argument – immediately looked for something to serve as earplugs. Wyatt and Chris instinctively took a step backwards. Piper's temper was not something to be messed with.

**_'Now we're in for it.'_** Wyatt told his younger brother. Surprisingly Piper's voice, when she spoke, was calm and even.

"Matt Perry. Paige Matthews. Chris whoever you are. Stop lying to me and tell me the truth." Chris, seeing the look of defeat on Wyatt's face and Paige about to enlighten her sister, chimed in abruptly.

"Matt's my brother. Well, your version of my brother anyway."

"But he's a Whitelighter. You're a witch." Piper pointed out. Paige came to her nephews' rescue.

"That's nothing. A side effect of dimension travelling. You never know what's going to be different. In the first place I went to this morning, Prue was still alive!" Piper inhaled sharply, successfully distracted. Chris sent his aunt a grateful look, and she nodded, but whether at him or Piper he couldn't tell. "And that's not all! She could orb, and in that dimension she was our mother and Sam's daughter. And I was dead!" she still sounded grumpy over this fact.

"You _really _need to get over that." Chris proclaimed.

"Ok, so you trust this Chris guy. But what about Matt? We don't know anything about him! And I for one am sick of going on blind faith!" It was obvious that this was a recurring topic. "How do I know he's not a demon? For that matter, how do you know that Chris isn't a demon?" Paige looked between her two nephews. Chris looked hurt, while Wyatt looked unmoved.

_'We've done this to them a lot, haven't we?_' she thought, a surge of guilt stopping her from reprimanding Piper. _'I'm no better than she is.'_ Chris knew his brother had probably heard a great deal of these accusations from Piper. He wondered why Wyatt didn't even try to stick up for himself.

_'Always was more of a Daddy's boy.'_ He mused. His elder brother's eyes flicked towards him, then went back to staring at Piper.

**_'I heard that.'_** Wyatt stated calmly. **_'Are you ok with this? I know you were closer to mom than me. She always turned a blind eye to you.'_**

_'Hey, I'm not evil, remember?'_ Chris shot back, offended. _'Where I come from, you're the evil one.'_

_**'Sorry.' **_Wyatt conceded grudgingly. **_'For a second, I forgot.'_**

"To be honest, we sometimes thought Chris could be a demon too." Paige informed Piper. Chris' head swung around, and both her nephews looked at her, shocked.

"Ok, I knew you didn't trust me, but you thought I was a demon?! Why?"

"Because we didn't know a thing about you!" Paige defended herself.

"So what, now you know who I am you automatically trust me?"

"Of course not!" Paige waved the accusation away. "Phoebe pretty much trusted you since she got her empath power – well, while she could still feel things from you, anyway – I think what made Piper (Our Piper) give you a chance was the desires incident a little while ago, and for me it was when you totally saved our asses from those blonde bimbos."

"Huh." Chris said quietly. He didn't show how pleased he was, but Paige knew anyway.

"You're welcome." She replied, grinning.

"Wait. You know who he really is? Tell me, please! It might help me figure out who Matt really is!" Piper begged of her sister. Chris sent Paige a glare.

"Don't you dare, it'll blow his cover!" Paige felt caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, there was Piper's anger. And on the other…maybe Chris took after his father more than his mom?

"Chris…nothing bad happened in your future when we figured out who you were…" Paige tried protesting.

"How do you know?" he snapped.

"Well, you told us your memories changed when you saved me from the Titans! I suppose you'd tell us if we changed too much!"

"My memories didn't change for a week and a half! If anything has happened, I'm not going to know yet! And plus, we've been orbing around from place to place too quickly for anything to try and catch up with me. Now Paige, I'm warning you, do –"

"And I'm warning you, Chris! She deserves to know!"

"Paige, it's not your secret to tell1 I am not going to break my brother's secret just because you and mom know mine!" Piper saw that Paige was weakening to Chris' logic, which meant she'd never get her answers.

"What was Matt yelling about earlier, Chris?" she asked. He turned to her. "About you not getting yourself conceived?" He winced.

"It was an accident. I kind of split my parents up when I came back first."

"Which, believe me, we're trying to fix." Paige interjected.

"He shouldn't have done something so stupid in the first place." Wyatt grumbled angrily.

"Shut up, Wy – why, Matt, I'm sure you probably made the same mistake I did."

"Wy?" Piper muttered. Chris looked at Paige anxiously, silently pleading. Heaving a sigh, she nodded and cleared her throat.

"So how's Leo, Piper?" she asked, steering her older sister off-course. Piper's eyes lit up.

_'I'm assuming that means they're still together here, then?'_ Chris broadcast to his brother.

**_'You didn't think I'd kill you, did you?'_**

_'I bet the Resistance would want you to. Do you have a Resistance here?'_

_**'Yep. And they probably would. But I couldn't live with it if I killed you. Not that it wouldn't make my job easier, but I wouldn't do that. You're my brother.'**_

_'Thanks. I'm trying to return the favour. But how did you manage to keep them together?'_

_**'I made sure Dad consulted Mom before becoming an Elder. And I made sure he ignored the other Elders and divided his time equally between Up There and down here. Why? What did you do?'**_

_'Sent Leo to Valhalla.'_ Chris shrugged. Wyatt gaped.

"Why?" he asked aloud. Piper and Paige turned to them.

"Why what?" Paige asked.

"Nothing." Chris lied, glaring at his brother. He made a slight downwards motion with one hand, giving Wyatt the feeling of having his foot stepped on. Hard.

"Ow!" he yelped, glancing at his younger brother. Chris shrugged innocently.

"Paige, we _really _have to be going now." He told the redhead.

"But I still don't know why Matt is!" Piper cried.

"Look Piper, sweetie, I know it's hard. But you have to trust Wyatt. His motives are –"

"Wyatt?" Piper interrupted. "Don't you mean Matt?"

"Umm, yes. Did I say Wyatt? I must just miss my nephew a lot, that's all. Anyway, you have to give him a chance. That's what I was saying, right? Wasn't it?" Paige rambled. Piper glared suspiciously. She tore her gaze from Paige to Wyatt and Chris, then back to her sister.

"Now you've done it." Chris murmured, as his mother gasped reflexively, the sudden realisation provoking a need for extra oxygen.

"Wyatt?" she asked somewhat hoarsely, staring openmouthed at her oldest son. He grinned uneasily.

"Uh, no?" Chris tutted.

"Wy, you never in your life were a good liar. Don't start trying now. Actually, I'm surprised you managed to last this long. When it comes to keeping your mouth shut, you're almost as bad as Prue and Mel." He reprimanded.

"Fine." Wyatt slumped. "I'm Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, ok? But there is _no way_ I am as bad as those two." He added to Chris.

"But…how? Wyatt still has his powers, and you have yours! Only one of you should be able to have them!"

"That's the only thing you get shocked about?" Paige demanded incredulously. "When Piper – my Piper – found out about Chris, she couldn't believe it!"

"Thanks. You make me feel so loved." Chris said dryly.

"Be pleased. You didn't want us to know." Paige pointed out.

"About…Chris? Matt's brother…you're my son too?!" Chris grinned.

"Christopher Perry Halliwell, at your service. My fool of a brother here stole my middle name to use as an alias." He introduced himself.

"You used it as an alias too!" Wyatt protested.

"Yeah, but it's _my_ name. I have a right to use it."

"So? I couldn't exactly use my real name, could I?" Wyatt squabbled.

"You could have used someone else's name."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry. Next time I'll ask my evil overlord…she doesn't know that yet." He shut himself up quickly.

"Yeah, I've been having the same problem all day." Chris grinned sympathetically. Paige's grin, on the other hand, was almost evil.

"It's been very enlightening." She informed them.

"Ok, that's creepy, Aunt Paige." Wyatt said.

"Fine. I'll drop it. You're acting very childish too though, Chris. All of a sudden, I mean." Paige commented.

"Being around my older brother tends to make either really mature to compensate for him, or else act like an adolescent. Around my Wyatt, it just results in my getting really angry." Piper looked curious.

"Why?"

"Because he's always spouting this rubbish about –"

"Being beyond good and evil? Everything about power? Yeah, I know how that feels." Wyatt agreed.

"Wait. Wyatt's evil?" Piper cried. She looked at the blonde man uneasily.

"Do I look evil to you?" Wyatt retorted.

"Not here." Paige reassured her. "In our world."

"This Wyatt came back to stop the evil, remember? Just like me." Chris said.

"Just like you…but if you came back to save Wyatt – then he came back to save you! My second son is going to turn EVIL?!" Piper finally seemed to be on the same page as everyone else, although they could tell that it wasn't really sinking in.

"Ok, well, we really have to be going now." Chris prompted again.

"What?" Wyatt exclaimed. "You can't just leave me here now! You have to help me fix this!"

"What's there to fix?" Paige asked. "She knows who you are, she knows what your mission is, she's going to trust you."

"And help you." Chris added, with a glare at Paige.

"All right, I can take a hint. Just wait until my cold is gone before you start pressing me for demon hunts again."

"Deal." Chris agreed.

_'It was nice meeting a good Wyatt.'_ Chris told his older brother silently._ 'Thanks. It's nice to really know what I'm fighting for.'_

**_'You too.'_** Wyatt replied seriously. **_'Take care of yourself, ok? And call me if you need anything. You'll probably be able to find me now.'_**

_'I got it.'_ Chris smiled.

"So how are you going to get home?" Piper asked curiously.

"Sense and orb. It's easy really." Chris shrugged.

"Easy?!" Paige exclaimed.

"Ok. Easy to someone who's been doing it for years. Because, when you think about it, I have way more experience than you."

"Yeah, Mr. Smug? Then you take us home." Paige demanded.

"Ok." He grabbed her arm, waved a cheerful goodbye, and began to orb. As they were dematerialising, Paige sneezed. Piper dropped her hands to her hips.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young man." She informed him. Wyatt gulped.

**AnimeAlexis:** Why is it that I'm getting more done in exam time than I do in termtime? It's scary. Ok, for everyone who asked for it, here is my Christmas present to you! I'd like one too, so be nice, and in the spirit of the season, drop me a review please!!


	14. Changing the Future

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 14**

They appeared in the attic, Chris glaring at Paige furiously, on the brink of exploding in anger.

"You SNEEZED!! Couldn't you have waited for two seconds longer to sneeze?!"

"I'm sorry, ok? I didn't do it on purpose, Chris. It was an accident!"

"Chris?" a disbelieving voice stopped his retort short.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning his attention to the speaker. His mother and aunt Phoebe were sitting on the attic floor inside a crystal cage. A sleeping Leo lay beside them, propped on pillows.

"What's Leo doing here?" Chris asked.

"Paige…your hair is red." Phoebe observed.

"And yours is longer. Guess we're not back home yet."

"No kidding, Sherlock."

"Wait, are you two from the future?" Phoebe asked.

"Depends on what the date is here. We could just be from an alternate universe." Paige informed them. Piper, looking extremely confused, gave them their date.

"It's November 15th, 2005. So are you from the future?" The two exchanged puzzled glances.

"No." Paige replied. "Two years in the past. And since you know both Chris _and_ I, I'd hazard a guess and say we're in our own future." It was Piper and Phoebe's turn to look worriedly at each other.

"Phoebe, conference, over here!" Piper ordered.

"Oh, but the circle…" Phoebe protested, nevertheless moving over to the window, leaving Leo in the protective crystals.

"They're from the past. They don't know what's going to happen, Phoebe. What do we do? We could stop Chris dying, we could stop Leo going crazy. We could fix all this before it even starts! All we have to do is tell them about Gideon."

"I don't know, Piper. Messing with time is a dangerous business. Look at what happened to Chris."

"But Pheebs, this is our chance to fix it. Please, don't make me send my own son back to his death." Piper pleaded. Phoebe nodded, and they turned back to go to Leo. Just as Piper sat down beside him again, he woke.

"Piper?" he asked quietly.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Good." He replied, smiling fondly at her. Suddenly he glanced past her, looking at something beyond her head. "Wait." Piper and Phoebe followed his gaze, their actions mimicked by Paige and Chris. None of the four saw anything.

"What? What is it?" Piper asked Leo urgently. Her husband jolted, a look of fear on his face, then fell back asleep.

"Leo? Leo, wake up Leo. Wake up."

"Honey, I don't think he's going to wake." Phoebe told her softly.

"I don't understand. What's going on here?" Paige questioned.

"Leo's been feeling a little…off lately. So we sent him on a vision quest, to see if it would help."

"Oh." Replied Paige, clearly confused.

"But Leo came out of the vision quest." Chris pointed out. Piper frowned.

_'Calling his father by his first name. So he's still at the hating Leo stage.'_ Piper noted.

"Unless he took some more of the potion, he shouldn't have gone back." Piper glanced at Phoebe, who shrugged. "I don't know, Piper, I have a bad feeling –" he stopped suddenly, listening to an invisible voice.

"Paige is calling Leo."

"What? No I'm not." The youngest charmed One said, bemused.

"No, it must be the other Paige." Phoebe realised. "If you're in the future, then only one of you will have your powers." Paige quickly orbed out and in, reappearing looking sheepish.

"I have my powers, so the future Paige won't have hers. I'll, umm, I'll just go and see if I can find her." She orbed out quickly. Chris looked at his mother and aunt.

"Leo shouldn't have gone back into the vision quest. It's that simple. I think one of you should go get him."

"How?" Phoebe enquired. "We can't just hijack his vision."

"I think someone's already done that. You can use the mind meld spell in the Book. The one you and Paige used to get to Piper when the Source had her."

"Neither of us can afford to be out of action at the moment, Chris. There's a celerity demon out there stealing guardian angels. He already has Paige's. And now the other Paige has her powers, she's more vulnerable than ever. We can't disable us too." Phoebe explained.

"Why don't you go in?" Piper suggested.

"What?" both Phoebe and Chris looked at her, shocked.

"I mean it. It's Chris' idea anyway, and neither of us can go. And I'm thinking maybe if you see him, you'll realise that your father isn't so bad after all." Piper explained.

"Wait. Exactly how much do you know about me?"

"Still not a whole lot." Piper admitted. "We know who you are, obviously. Does Paige?" Chris nodded. "Ok, good. That means that Phoebe won't have to kill herself trying to keep a secret. Anyway, let's find that spell."

"The Book's in the kitchen." Phoebe started, standing. "I'll go –"

"It's ok. You stay in the crystals, where it's safe. I'll get the Book. Like you said, you can't afford to be out of action at the moment."

"Ok, well Paige and a federal agent are downstairs."

"Which one?" he asked curiously. Piper stared incredulously.

"There are more feds in our future?" Chris bit his lip.

"No. I'm talking about the police and federal agents that you've met already." He improvised hurriedly. "Sheridan, Rhys, Cortez, Andy, Darryl, Kyle…"

"Wait. You call him Kyle too?" Phoebe started. Chris looked uncomfortable.

'_This is soo not my day. Or days, actually, I think it might be past midnight now. I wouldn't know, considering I haven't been home in hours.' _

"I'll just go and get the Book, shall I?" he orbed downstairs as one redhead Paige followed one furious and awkward Paige into the attic. Kyle trailed after them, holding the Book of Shadows carefully in his arms.

"Oh, Brody has the Book." Phoebe observed. She yelled for her nephew as Future Paige hissed

"Would you stop calling him that?"

"Why, are you two going out?" the Paige from the past asked curiously, looking appraisingly at Kyle.

"No, we're not. And I'm still not talking to you."

"Paige, you can't not talk to her." Piper laughingly pointed out as Chris orbed back in. "She's you."

"No, she's not." Paige corrected. "I'm me. She's her. I was her, but she has never been me, and won't be me for another two years." She looked smug.

"So I'm you minus two years and a dye job." Past Paige waved her futureself's logic away. "We're still essentially the same person."

"Not true. Two years can completely change a person."

"No, they can't!"

"Ok, people." Phoebe interjected loudly, ignoring the fact that her sister was fighting with _herself_. It was, after all, if not everyday than pretty close. "We've still got to fix Leo."

"Hey Kyle, could I borrow the Book for a sec?" Chris asked casually. The federal agent glanced at him.

"Do I know you?"

"Not yet." Chris grinned.

"Wait, you know Kyle in the future?" Future Paige asked.

"Yeah. Can't tell you how though. I've already spilled enough today."

_'Plus, there's no need for Kyle to know he's one of the only Whitelighters left anywhere, and a member of the Resistance too.'_

"So let's get on with it, shall we?" he asked, as Kyle handed the Book of Shadows to him. Chris flicked idly to the page he was looking for. Months of searching its pages for the threat to Wyatt had resulted in him near memorising the Book, and he found the mind meld spell easily.

"Right. Got it." He said. "You sure that you don't want to get him?" he pleaded with his mother and Phoebe. Past Paige, clueless as to the situation, protested.

"Wait a minute, Chris. Where are you going? Where is he going?" she demanded of her sisters, knowing she'd get no answer from Chris. Sure enough, he ignored her and recited the spell.

"Life to life, and mind to mind,

Our spirits now will intertwine.

We meld our thoughts and journey to

The one whose thoughts we wish we knew."

**AnimeAlexis:** How was that? Oh, by the way, I don't know if I've asked this already, but if there's any of the worlds that you want to see again, let me know and I'll see what I can do with it. And yay! Alerts are back up again. I depend on them way too much, I know, but hey. I'd love it if you reviewed! Pretty please!


	15. Just Like Dad

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary:** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 15**

Not having remembered to sit down, it was Kyle's quick reflexes which saved Chris from a mass of bruises as he collapsed into unconsciousness. Paige went berserk.

"What the hell did you do to my…Whitelighter?!" she shouted, as Kyle carefully lowered the brown-haired boy beside his father.

"Paige, calm down." Phoebe started. "Chris is fine."

"What are you, demons? Are we in some alternate world where the Charmed Ones are evil now? Why is Chris lying unconscious on the floor?!"

"Paige, do you really think I would hurt my own son?" Piper demanded.

"I…no. You know who he is?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because she's from the past, Piper. Two years ago. You said November, right? The same as now? You didn't know who Chris was then, Piper." Phoebe pointed out logically. She frowned, a thought occurring to her. "Wait. I didn't even know who he was in November. I didn't find out until January, and I was the first one to find out who Chris was." Past Paige shook her head in disagreement.

"You don't even know yet." She argued. "You were out on a date with Jason when Piper and I went to the alternate reality where Piper had Melinda." Phoebe gasped as Future Paige paled.

"What?" Past Paige asked cluelessly.

"That never happened, Paige." Piper told her.

"Of course it did, I was there." She laughed nervously. Kyle was having some trouble keeping up, supernatural experience and all. He decided to voice what was happening, just to clarify.

"So what you're saying is, Paige here has changed your past?"

* * *

For Leo, it was like an apparition. One minute, he was demanding answers from the man in black, the next his dead son had appeared in front of him. For the second time that day.

"Chris?" he asked hoarsely, staring at the figure sitting on the ground. This felt different than earlier. Was this Chris…

"Yeah?" Chris' head shot up, and he clutched it in dismay.

"I'm ok." He said, as his father offered a hand to help him up. "Just a little woozy. No sharp movements. I'm fine, Leo!" he said crossly, when the elder's hand remained where it was. Leo flinched, as Chris stood up slowly.

"Chris…" he asked. He was bewildered. What was going on? Was this the real Chris, or another symbol of his own guilt? And if this was the real Chris then where had he come from? He looked over at the Avatar, who was looking just as astounded, and somewhat…fearful? Leo was musing over that when his son's voice drew his attention again.

"I'm from the past." Chris explained. "Piper sent me to get you because you're not supposed to go back into a vision quest when you've come out. Unless you drink some more of the potion. So we figure that someone must have hijacked your vision quest." He turned his attention to the Avatar, and his eyes were steely. "I'm guessing that would be you. An Avatar. Great."

'_I hate dealing with Avatars.'_ He thought to himself.

"You – you're real?" Leo asked incredulously. "You're alive?"

"Um, no. I'm a Whitelighter, remember? Being dead comes with the job." Leo pulled his son into a hug as he spoke, ignoring the words. Chris stiffened.

"Leo, what are you doing?" Leo frowned. Stepping back, he let Chris' explanation register in his head.

"You're from the past? But then… you don't know. You wouldn't." Relief surged through him.

'_If Chris is from the past, then it's the same resentment he feels. I haven't screwed up the future yet!'_

"Know what?" the witchlighter asked.

"A lot." Leo smiled hesitantly. "None the least of which is that I know who you are. Before you…went back to the future, you forgave me. I'm not quite sure how. From what I've heard, I was a pretty lousy dad. But towards the end of last year, we managed to become…friends, of a sort."

"So you know who I am, then?" was the only thing Chris could think of to say. Leo nodded. "Oh. Did I – tell everyone, then?"

"Excuse me." The bewildered Avatar interjected. "Who are you?" Chris turned and sent him a glare that would have frozen lava.

"Shut up, you. I'll get to you in a minute."

"You didn't tell me, Chris. Phoebe did. You told Paige, after she called you…what did she say it was…oh yeah. Some creepy registered sex offender from the future." Leo laughed, a sound his family hadn't heard a lot lately. And it helped. He could feel himself brightening enormously with Chris there. Alive. And as he contemplated sending his son back to the past to die, he came to the same stubborn decision Piper had. Chris wasn't going back without some warning about Gideon. No way in hell.

* * *

"So I'm in another alternate universe." Past Paige declared. "Great. Just great. And not only am I in another universe, but I'm in the future of one. Well, don't tell me anything, or Chris will kick my ass."

"There are some things we _need_ to tell you, Paige. Otherwise your future will end up like ours." Phoebe told her, exchanging glances with her two sisters.

"What do you mean?" Paige asked curiously. "Your world doesn't seem so bad to me."

"Huh! That's what you think." Piper muttered. "Leo is insane, we have an FBI agent stalking us, demon floating heads are everywhere, apparently. Paige – the other Paige – has lost her guardian angel and her powers and Chris…"

"What about Chris?" Past Paige asked cautiously, with a glance at her nephew's prone body. "Where _is_ your Chris, anyway?"

The trio exchanged another glance, and Paige glared at them.

"Stop doing that! Where is he? Chris!" she yelled, hoping the future version of their Whitelighter would respond.

"Paige, sweetie, he won't come." Phoebe told her softly. "He's… well, he's gone."

"Please tell me you mean gone as in back to the future gone." Past Paige asked with a sinking heart. Her counterpart shook her head.

"He died, Paige. He died saving Wyatt. Saving his brother. But – we won't let that happen again. This time…this time you need to fix it before Chris gets hurt."

"Of course. Who did it?" she demanded. "Who hurt him?"

"An elder by the name of Gideon."

* * *

"Gideon? As in your mentor Gideon?" Chris asked dubiously. "I don't know, Leo. He's an Elder. He doesn't really seem the type to kill. Although…Bianca never _did_ trust him. Said he gave her a bad feeling. Are you sure, Leo?"

"Dad." The Elder corrected mildly. Chris looked at him in exasperation.

"Has anyone ever told you you're just like your wife?"

"No. But people have said you're just like your mother, so I guess that makes you just like me." Chris looked horrified. "Just watch out for him, Chris, ok? I don't want to have to watch you die again."

"You saw me die?" Chris asked, softening his voice. If Leo was telling the truth, and they had gotten close…

'_Watching someone you love dying is probably the worst thing that can happen to you.'_

"I'm sorry. I know how hard that must have been." Leo laughed.

"Just the same as ever, Chris. Other people always did come first. That attitude is going to get you killed."

"Ok, you can stop reminding me now." Chris muttered. "Watch out for Gideon, make sure he doesn't turn Wyatt evil…or kill me." He added hastily at his father's exasperated glance.

"I've got it. Now to deal with what's been driving you insane lately." He said clinically. He turned narrowed eyes to the man in black standing to the side. "So you're an Avatar, right? You know, you people and my brother have caused me a lot of trouble over the years." He commented lightly. Alpha, who wasn't half as stupid as he looked, had realised who Chris was. And just how dangerous he could be, especially if he managed to convince his family that the Avatars were not to be trusted. The wrath of the Halliwell clan was something to be feared even if you were beyond good and evil. Weighing up his options, he decided on a tactical retreat, disappearing to leave Chris and Leo alone in the white space.

"Hey, come back here!" Chris yelled. "I wanted to kick his ass." He admitted to Leo.

"About ruining the future?" his father guessed. Chris shook his head.

"No. About his awful décor. What self-respecting Halliwell would let themselves get buried in _this_ sort of a graveyard? Great-Grams would have a fit." He told Leo, nodding solemnly. The Elder laughed for the second time that day.

"Listen, Leo. If you're telling the truth and we did get close before my apparent death, then I know it wasn't your fault. With the ones you loved, you would do anything to protect them. So whatever happened probably couldn't have been avoided. Maybe I was supposed to die back here. After all, there's no return time-travel spell in the Book. I've always known it was a risk." He smiled gently at his father, who promptly lost it.

"Christopher Perry Halliwell, you do not talk like that, do you hear me? If I find out that you've been doing anything stupid that will put you in danger, so help me I'll kill you myself!" Leo lectured him fiercely. Chris started.

"Are you sure you're not Mom?" he grinned. "Come on, let's get you out of here and back home where you belong. Ok?"

"Sure. Any idea how?" Leo asked. Chris grinned sheepishly at him.

"I was hoping you'd know." For the third time that day, Leo laughed.

* * *

The sound bubbled from his lips as his eyes opened to take in the attic, and he sat up, relishing the look of the brown wood and even the musty smell after that awful white fog.

"Leo? You're awake!" Piper exclaimed joyfully, looking startled as he suddenly wrapped her in a bear hug. Chris groaned as he too sat up, helped by an anxious looking redheaded Paige, who immediately smacked him on the shoulder after checking that he was alright.

"Ow!" he complained. "What was that for?"

"For scaring the hell out of me!" Paige told him. "What possessed you to do such a stupid thing?"

"It may have been stupid, but look how well it worked." He replied, nudging her so she was looking at his parents. Paige rolled her eyes.

"All right, mushy people. Chris and I need to go home now."

"God, yes. I need sleep." Chris groaned. Piper narrowed her eyes.

"Why do you need sleep? Have you been going on all night demon hunts again, Christopher?"

"No." Chris lied. "All night dimension hopping. Orbing through alternate versions of your family's lives really takes it out of you."

"Aw, poor baby." Paige said sarcastically, heaving him to his feet. "At least you'll still be healthy when we get back."

"Oh! Before I forget. Kyle, the Avatars are what you were after. That potion you have hidden at the top of your closet? Bring it here, replicate it and protect it. I do _not_ trust those things, so don't go along with their plan. Utopia is _not_ all it's cracked up to be, mom, so don't think me and Wyatt will enjoy growing up in it. Don't let them trick you."

"Why are you directing that comment at me?" Piper demanded. She turned to her husband. "Why is he directing that comment at me?" Leo shushed her.

"And Le – dad? You really need to find a balance between the Elder thing and your life down here. Tell them the truth about why you did what you did. If you want, I'll go up and kick their asses before I go so they'll listen!" he offered hopefully, the comment eagerly echoed by the rest of his family. Leo shook his head, grinning.

"I think I'll be ok." Chris shrugged, as Phoebe and both Paige's sighed and Piper looked annoyed. Past Paige tugged on her nephew's arm. Clamping a hand over her mouth, she signalled to Chris to orb. He did so reluctantly, with a last wave at the future versions of his family.

**AnimeAlexis:** Talk about killing two birds with one stone. He's Not Your Son has been updated too, as well as Family Always Knows. I spent a lot of Paddy's Day and most of today working on these instead of doing my homework! Please review, and tell me what you think!


	16. A New Day Dawns

**Disclaimer** If I owned Charmed, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer. But it's here, so I don't.

**Summary** Paige has a cold. Unfortunately, her sneezes tend to have bad consequences. Slightly AU with a dash of Chris revelation thrown in.

**Chapter 16**

Chris hurriedly jumped away from Paige, not wanting to be touching her if she sneezed again. A moment later he realised that it was probably best if he _was_ touching her so no one would have to go after her, and rolled his eyes. The redhead snuffled loudly, groaning as she realised that once again her cold had returned. She looked at the irate Piper and Phoebe, and decided that her bed was calling.

"Aunt Paige!" Chris yelled angrily after the disappearing orbs. "Coward." Persuading himself he was braver than his aunt, he glanced at the floor and waited for his mother to explode. He wasn't disappointed.

"Seventeen?! My first grandchild was born when my son was _17_?!"

"Jesus, mom, let it go." He rolled his eyes, then turned serious. "I swear, I _will_ wipe your memory of my goddaughter if that's what it takes to ensure she's born." His voice was deadly, and struck dumb, his mother winced.

"Oh, yeah, Chris. That's another thing." Phoebe chimed in, filling the silence. "Let's ignore for a second the fact that you would wipe our memories clean of any knowledge of who you are. Let's also ignore the fact that _you never told us_." Now Chris was the one wincing.

_'Here it comes.'_

"Why on Earth didn't you make sure that you would end up being _born_?" He blinked.

_'That was milder than I expected.'_

"I am _sure_ your brother wouldn't want you behaving so stupidly for his sake." Piper pointed out.

"Yeah, he was a bit pissed off with me. Actually, both of them were." Chris admitted, remembering both the earsplitting yells and the attempt to kill him. He held up a hand to stop Piper as she started again, wanting nothing more than to lie down for a while.

"Look Mom, I'm tired, and I'm hungry, and I'd just like to go to P3 and crash. Can I take a raincheck on the lecture?" Without another word, he orbed out, ignoring her repeated calls.

"Urgh, my son is so annoying!" Piper complained.

"You should be pleased, Piper. He takes after his mommy." Phoebe grinned.

"Ha. That's funny. You should do stand up. What am I gonna do, Pheebs? This is all just one big mess."

"Well, things always look better in the morning, so how about we sleep on it and decide tomorrow? You can kick his ass then, ok sweety?"

"All right." Conceded Piper, slightly mollified. She voiced one last question as they headed down the stairs. "What am I gonna tell Leo?"

* * *

The morning dawned bright and sunny, not that Paige noticed. Staying up until 4 the previous night, combined with her cold and the energy drain of constantly using her powers meant she slept straight through until 2 o'clock. Piper had left for P3, but Phoebe was working at home while looking after Wyatt. She knocked on the door of her younger sister's room to see if she was awake, and was rewarded with a groan. 

"Go 'way!" A voice called through a heavily stuffed up nose. Phoebe grinned and ignored the order, bringing a bottle of Vitamin C tablets and a glass of orange juice into the room.

"How are you feeling, honey? Any better?"

"Do." Paige grumbled. "Worse. I kida wish I could go bak to aduther udiverse ad get rid of this agaid."

"Well, don't Neither Chris nor Piper are here to go after you, and I'm not feeling like today's gonna be my lucky day. So I'd probably screw any rescue mission up."

"How cub you feel udlucky?" Paige asked curiously.

"I don't know. Maybe you feel unlucky, and I'm picking up on that."

"You cad't be." Paige replied, shaking her head. "Rebeber, the ebpath potion?"

"Well, I don't know then!" Phoebe threw up her hands in exasperation. "This whole situation has got me rattled." She sighed.

"Chris?" Paige asked sympathetically.

"Partly, I suppose. Well, a lot Chris. I just…how come he kept this from us for so long? Screw future consequences, he's our nephew!"

"Yeah, but I dod't thidk that registers very highly id his mid. He thidks Wyatt's bore ibportadt thad adythig." Phoebe laughed.

"I can't understand a word you're saying." Paige stuck out her tongue, then froze.

"Uh oh." Her nose twitched, and Phoebe immediately scurried backwards.

"Don't sneeze, don't sneeze!!"

"I'b _tryig, _Phoebe!" Paige protested, covering her mouth with her hand. She hesitated. "Although just id case…" Paige jumped up out of bed and scrambled around her room looking for clothes. Phoebe dashed downstairs to check on Wyatt, bringing the toddler back up to Paige's room, where, thankfully, the redhead was sitting crosslegged on the bed.

"It's god!" she said cheerfully, bouncing slightly. "Although I'b all dressed dow. That's addoyig." Phoebe shifted Wyatt to one hip and reached out to pat Paige on the shoulder.

"That's ok, sweety. Probably just as well to be –" A loud 'achoo!' interrupted her, and when the lights had cleared, the room was empty.

* * *

"Peter, Preston would _kill_ us if he knew we were doing this. Can't you leave it alone for once? I mean, think of the personal gain issues for one!" 

"Paul, quit whining. Preston isn't going to know, unless you tell him."

Well, if you _want_ to get blown up, I'm not going to stop you." Paul claimed. Phoebe glared at her sister as the voices came closer.

"Why are we in the attic?" she asked Paige, bouncing her young nephew on her hip. The witchlighter shrugged.

"I always end up here." She told Phoebe, just as the door opened.

"What the…? Who are you people and what are you doing in our attic?" Two brown haired men came through the door, freezing when they caught sight of the Halliwell sisters and Wyatt. Paige held up her hands placatingly at the two.

"Hi. Look, we're not going to hurt you, we're not burglars. We're just…we're…uh, Pheebs?"

"Hey, don't look at me. We've never had to come up with an excuse for why we're in our own house before!" Phoebe protested.

"Why you're in… this is our house! Not yours!" Wyatt scrunched up his face at the noise and Phoebe glared stonily at the two males.

"Ok, first of all, shush, or my nephew will get annoyed at you. And second…I don't suppose you believe in magic?" The other two exchanged a wry glance.

"Yeah, you could say we do." The taller of the two proclaimed. "Why?"

"This might sound kind of crazy but…we're witches." Paige informed them. They looked surprised, but not disbelieving. "From another dimension." Phoebe added helpfully.

"Good or bad?" the one who had answered before asked.

"Good. Definitely good." Paige assured them.

"Well, as long as you're not demons. I'm Peter, this is Paul." Peter introduced them. Paul rolled his eyes.

"You are way too trusting. A demon in disguise isn't going to say that it's evil, is it?" He slapped the other man lightly across the head.

"So. I'll ask again. Who are you and why are you in our house?"

"I thought Whitelighters were supposed to be pacifists." Peter muttered.

"I'm only half Whitelighter." Paul replied briefly, not facing him.

"Ok, well, I'm Phoebe, and this is Paige. Funnily enough, she's part Whitelighter too. Oh, and this adorable little guy is my oldest but currently youngest nephew. Wyatt." The small blond giggled and waved his arms about happily. "Like I said, we're from an alternate dimension, and in our world, this is our house. We're not evil, you can trust us on that. We're actually supposed to be the most powerful good witches of our time. The Charmed Ones."

"…What?" Peter asked, the same time as Paul declared flatly

"You can't be."

"And why not?" Paige demanded.

"Well, because that's who _we _are."

* * *

"Don't mind me, I'm just here to check something in the Book!" Chris called out, orbing into the attic. He didn't want Phoebe and Paige downstairs thinking he was a demon, so he yelled a warning down just in case. He waited for a few seconds for them to reply, but no sound came. 

"Don't tell me they're _still_ annoyed at me." He muttered. He shook his head and opened the Book of Shadows, flipping to the page he wanted.

'_I _knew_ I did something wrong. Mel would kill me if she knew I was making potions, I'm no good. Though how I'm able to cook and _not_ make potions is beyond me.'_ He sighed. A slight cough jerked his head up, and he saw Leo looking at him curiously.

"What are you looking for?"

"Potion recipe. I think I screwed the last batch up, so m- Piper decided that she was going to make the next one." He rifled around in one of the nearby chests, finding a pen and a notebook. He grinned triumphantly and started copying from the Book.

"But there're no potion ingredients out. And isn't Piper at the club?" Leo questioned.

"Yeah, we're working from there because yet another of her employees has called sick and we need to set up. Plus, she won't let me bother A- Paige because she's got a cold." He pouted for a second as if not annoying his aunt for a day would lead to his destruction.

"Paige has a cold? I hope she's not minding Wyatt." The Elder commented with a frown.

"No, Phoebe's working from home. M – _Piper_ says she doesn't want him catching her cold. You really should be around more often, Leo." Maybe it was just old prejudices speaking, but right now Chris was finding it hard to believe that he and this man would ever be friends. Leo was just never in the picture.

'_Although who's to say that he wouldn't be if you told him.' _He pointed out. He shook his head and returned to copying out the potion.

"So why are you here?" he asked Leo casually, trying for the sake of the father he had just met to keep his tone unaccusing.

"Piper called me and asked me to check on you, actually. She said you had something to tell me."

"Really? Can't think what it would be." Chris replied calmly.

'_Damn mothers. She's so interfering! I've told her that he doesn't need to know!'_ He kept a blank face while Leo was there, calling down the stairs again as he finished writing.

"I'm going! But Leo's here, and he might be hanging around!"

"No, I'm going to go too, if there's nothing you wanted to talk about." Chris shrugged and relayed the message downstairs.

"What did they say?" Leo asked as Chris went to orb out.

"I don't know. Nothing. I don't think they're talking to me. Well, Paige is, but she might be asleep." He paused and looked worried, realisation dawning on him as he thought of the alternative. "Unless…" he didn't complete the sentence, instead running downstairs, Leo hurrying after him.

"Paige? Phoebe? Wy?" He dashed from room to room, finding each one empty. Eventually, he cursed and headed for the kitchen. Picking up the phone, he quickly dialled P3's number. Piper picked up after the third ring, and Leo listened confusedly to Chris' side of the conversation.

"Hi, Piper?...No, I won't. No!...Cos Leo's here. …Yes, oh, Piper. Why did you – That's not important, I told you, I've got three months…I don't care if you want me to tell him…No. Listen, Paige is gone. … Yes, again, and Phoebe and Wyatt have disappeared too. … Well, they must be, otherwise Phoebe would've called. … There's nothing we really _can _do. They can handle it. … No, Piper, I'm not going to tell him. Ok, I'm on my way over. Bye." He hung up the receiver and turned to Leo.

"Weren't you going?"

"Chris, what's going on?" the Elder asked, ignoring him. "Where are the girls and Wyatt?"

"That's a long story, which you would have known if you ever bothered to be around. Look, ask Piper if you want. Bye!" He orbed out to where his mother was waiting, leaving Leo dumbfounded in the Manor kitchen.

**AnimeAlexis:** Don't ask. Really, don't ask. Who knew that you could possibly be as busy as during school time in the middle of the freaking summer holidays? … Ok, random poll, to take everyone's mind off the fact that it's been soo long since I updated last. Do people thing birthday cards are a waste of paper or a good idea?

OH!! And I'm afraid I can't take credit for the world Phoebe and Paige are currently in. That idea belongs to AlphaPsiOmega, and I'm writing it cos they refused when I asked. Bye!


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